Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 30, 1992 TAG: 9201300033
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLYNE H. McWILLIAMS BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A RUMMAGE SALE FOR WINNERS ONLY
Connie Dennis stopped by the Holiday Inn-Tanglewood to pick up a T-shirt for her daughter.Not just any shirt. It was a Washington Redskin Super Bowl XXVI Champion T-shirt. Dennis said her daughter and husband are big Redskin fans.
"She can answer questions I have no idea about," Dennis said of her daughter, sorting through a pile of youth-sized shirts.
Dennis and several other people milled through the goods in the hotel's Dogwood Room. The sale, expected to end this weekend, is put on by Sportswon Inc., a Kansas-based company that specializes in professional sports promotional events.
"It's been tremendous," said Doug Nixon, one of three people working the Roanoke sale. "You wouldn't believe there was a recession." Nixon said he and the two other employees opened the sale last Thursday.
Arnold Goldberg and two partners started the company in 1985 to "fulfill a need," he said.
"We can provide fans with a variety of items right from the manufacturer that stores can't provide year-round," Goldberg said by phone from his Falls Church office.
The company employs about 200 people nationwide and caters to fans during periods around the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, World Series and the NBA Finals. The paraphernalia ranges from baby clothes to gloves to Christmas ornaments, all embossed with team emblems and colors.
Bill Whitlock, director of operations, explained that some items are printed before the big games and focus on a community's favorite team. But the company is not allowed to sell items until the team wins the game.
There are about 12,000 Buffalo Bill Super Bowl championship T-shirts sitting around along with thousands of other championships items for teams that lost. Sometimes those items can be sold in foreign countries, Whitlock said.