Prince Sports

History

The company was founded in 1970 by Robert Hirt McClure (1893–1991) of Princeton, New Jersey (the origin of the company's name) as a manufacturer of tennis-ball machines, and soon after, rackets. Howard Head, founder of the Head sporting goods company, took tennis lessons following his retirement and used a Prince tennis ball machine, but was frustrated by his slow improvement. Head joined the Prince company in the early 1970s and developed the company's signature oversized tennis racket. Although the Prince Classic aluminum racket was the first oversized racquet to be patented, the Bentley Fortissimo preceded the patent by two years, causing Germany to invalidate the patent.

During those years, the company was owned by a variety of different firms, including the Benetton Group of Italy, Lincolnshire Management, Inc. (which acquired Prince from Benetton in 2003) and Nautic Partners LLC.

In July 2012, Authentic Brands Group acquired the Prince brand name from Nautic Partners in a procedure that included a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Prince Sports' portfolio of brands included Prince (tennis, squash and badminton), Ektelon (racquetball) and Viking (platform/paddle tennis). Its tennis unit recorded $59 million in sales in 2011. Authentic Brands owned the intellectual property rights for the estates of Marilyn Monroe and Bob Marley, among other celebrities.

By September 2012, the Waitt Company agreed to a 40-year license to operate the Prince brand. Prince Global Sports now operates as a subsidiary of Athletic Brands Holding Company, which is majority-owned by the Waitt Company. The company's portfolio of brands also includes Ektelon, Viking and Battle.

After recovering from bankruptcy, in March 2014, Prince announced that it would move its headquarters from Bordentown, New Jersey to Atlanta. Prince's CEO Mike Ballardie stated that Atlanta had a thriving tennis community with more people playing tennis than any other American city, which made it a great base for the company. Atlanta also boasted the largest city tennis league in the world, with more than 80,000 members of the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association.

Sponsorships

Tennis

Men

• SPA Marcel Granollers

Women

• GER Mona Barthel
• RUS Vera Zvonareva

Retired players

• ARG Guillermo Coria
• ARG David Nalbandian
• ARG Gabriela Sabatini
• AUS Pat Cash
• AUS Pat Rafter
• CHN Peng Shuai
• CZE Jana Novotná
• ESP Albert Costa
• ESP David Ferrer
• ESP Juan Carlos Ferrero
• ESP María José Martínez Sánchez
• FRA Marion Bartoli
• GBR Oliver Golding
• JPN Ai Sugiyama
• GER Annika Beck
• RUS Alex Bogomolov Jr.
• RUS Nikolay Davydenko
• RUS Maria Sharapova
• SRB Jelena Janković
• SVK Daniela Hantuchová
• SWE Johan Brunström
• SWE Kent Carlsson
• USA Andre Agassi
• USA Bob Bryan
• USA Mike Bryan
• USA Jennifer Capriati
• USA John Isner
• USA Michael Chang
• USA Kathy Rinaldi
• USA Pam Shriver

Squash

• EGY Ramy Ashour
• FRA Camille Serme
• ENG Emily Whitlock
• HKG Rebecca Chiu
• MAS Delia Arnold
• ENG Peter Nicol
• SCO John White
• WAL David Evans
• ENG Cassie Jackman
• FRA Julien Bonetat

References

References

1. [http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/prince-sports-group-inc-history/ Prince Sports Group, Inc. History] on Funding Universe
2. [http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/ChesebroughPonds-USA-Inc-Company-History.html Chesebrough-Ponds] on Funding Universe
3. [https://www.authenticbrandsgroup.com/about-1 Our business (timeline)] on ABG website
4. [https://sgbonline.com/prince-sports-to-be-sold-to-authentic-brands-group-in-bankruptcy-proceedings/ Prince Sports to be Sold to Authentic Brands Group in Bankruptcy Proceedings] by Thomas J. Ryan, May 4, 2012
5. [https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/2014/02/27/prince-tennis-moves-corporate-headquarters-from-new-jersey-to-atlanta/#412bb54d46d8 Prince Tennis Moves Corporate Headquarters From New Jersey To Atlanta] by Darren Heitner on ''Forbes'', 27 Feb 2014