
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 29, 1995                   TAG: 9507310040
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PRINTER PUTS LAST HURRAH ON HOLD

Collegiate Pacific, a Roanoke screen-printing operation, did not completely shut down Friday as planned, because its owners may have a buyer for all or part of the company.

"The last hurrah is not the last hurrah," said plant manager Charlie Atkins.

Machines that print designs on sportswear were idle, but production of felt banners and pennants will continue for as long as 20 days, Atkins said. About half of the 35- to 40-person work force was laid off. The fate of other workers is tied to finding a buyer for the operation.

The company's owner, Littlefield, Adams & Co. of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., is talking with potential buyers, including an unidentified Virginia company, two groups in Indiana and a group of local residents contemplating buying the facility at 1302 Rockland Ave. N.W.

The side of the business that prints college and university logos on felt goods dates back decades and is one of only two or three operations of its kind in the nation, Atkins has said.

The plant's closure was announced June 28. Jerry Luloff, president of Littlefield's apparel division, said Collegiate Pacific had been losing money for years.

Littlefield, Adams, which also runs a screen-printing plant in Dayton, Ohio, was based in Roanoke from 1987 to 1991.

by CNB