Published: August 19, 2009 10:34 am      

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Remembering football and Ohio Northern University

Ohio Northern University was Ada, Ohio’s only claim to being noticed for many years. The village population remained in the 5000-plus range in census after census. It was a small factory making footballs that put the village on the map. Even though they had only about 130 employees it was the second-biggest employer after the university.

My husband and I share fond memories of the university. We both attended and in 1942 we and one other couple were the first married couple to be students. The war interrupted the academic life, but in 1945 we returned so husband could complete his studies and graduate. The athletic fields had been filled with mobile homes to take care of the many married couples who returned. By that time we had a baby son and I was a mother, not a student.

Few in Ada knew much about the Ohio-Kentucky Manufacturing Co. which had moved its operation from Cincinnati to Ada in 1938 to cut costs. Then in 1955 the plant was sold to Chicago-based Wilson, the company that had been making all game footballs for the NFL since 1941. With that change of ownership the name became The Wilson Sporting Goods Factory, Ada, OH.

As alumni of ONU we received regular correspondence from the university but not about the town. All that changed when I saw a story in USA TODAY in January 2005 with the dateline Ada, Ohio. It was a feature tying the upcoming Super Bowl with that small factory. It even mentioned that the plant’s logo was the only one on the town’s water tower.

When the plant name was changed to Wilson in 1955 they became the exclusive makers of the NFL footballs but the workers feel a sense of pride when they start work on the annual Super Bowl footballs. The small workforce of neighbors and many family members includes a number who have been there for 40, 33 and 19 years. They produce a fine football but at their yearly outing they play softball.

Although the football is often called pigskin it is made of cowhide. The Ada plant is the only factory in the world devoted only to footballs and the last in the U.S. making them of leather. The process begins with an entire hide which is then cut with a football-shaped cutter into as many as 25 pieces.

After the pieces are sewn together on the inside they must be turned right side out. That is the hard job of the “ball turner.” Next an air bladder is inserted and then the ball is handed over to be double-laced and finally inflated with 13 pounds of pressure. Each ball is imprinted with the Wilson and National Football League logo and the names of the two finalists for the Super Bowl. There are also a few balls marked with K and used only for kickers.

For regular season NFL football games 36 balls are the norm but for the Super Bowl 72 are provided. The plant is also the official supplier for NCAA football and for Ohio high school football teams. Annual sales of approximately 700,000 game balls are boosted to over 3 million balls for casual recreation.

That small crew in Ada constructs about 4000 footballs a day! The Wilson Sporting Goods, Ada, is the only dedicated football factory in the world and the only football manufacturing facility in the United States. Those two recognitions are as important to the employees as a degree from the university.