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Sporting Chance Award, cont.
football.
Bush-Wells is a member of
Sports Inc., which is the largest
sporting goods buying group
in the country. It’s made up of
independent stores throughout the
United States. “The whole idea of
the buying group gives us a chance
to be competitive with the big-box
stores,” Nelson said.
At its national tradeshow in June
2016, the membership numbers of
all member stores went into a bingo
ball tumbler on the stage. And of
all of the members nationwide,
Bush-Wells was drawn to receive
the Sporting Chance grant.
“Our number was pulled out
and Terry and I looked at each
other and said, ‘Nowwhat?’” retail
manager Kirk Nelson recalled
recently. Bush-Wells was founded
in 1963 and is currently owned by
Terry Nelson and Pearley Wells
III, son of founder Pearley Wells.
“Terry and I put our heads together
and decided to use the grant to buy
equipment that youth groups might
need and not have the money for,”
Kirk Nelson said.
“We contacted groups, took
their wish list and then budgeted
it out,” he said. In all, more than
$30,000 of equipment was issued
between spring 2017 and this fall.
“We were pleasantly surprised that
we received it but felt an obligation,
and we were honored to give back
to the community,” Nelson said.
The store, in its 54th year, is the
only independently owned full-
line athletic team supplier in the
state. Nelson said the majority of
the store’s business is institutional
statewide,
supplying
school
athletic teams with everything from
uniforms to equipment. Much of
that business is decades old, built
on relationships between school
administrators and store employees
passed down through generations.
At the retail location at Center
and Collins streets downtown,
shoppers can find hockey skates,
workout gear, referee clothing,
cheerleader uniforms, Wyoming,
Natrona and Kelly Walsh branded
apparel, as well as fan gear such
as stadium seats.
In addition to the equipment that
Midget Football received, Nelson
said Casper Soccer received
new goals and baseball groups
received field equipment, tarps
and L screens for batting practice.
“It was a lot of work, figuring out
their needs and then trying to meet
those needs, but we were very
honored to have that opportunity,”
Nelson said.
We would like to thank
Sally Ann Shurmur of the
Casper Star Tribune for
writing this article that was
published on October 6, 2017.
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