By Charles Romans
Carter County Times
Though it has relocated several times, Grayson Sporting Goods has been a fixture in downtown Grayson for decades. Originally opened in 1975 by Larris and Jane Bush, the business has survived everything from fires to supply chain difficulties and has thrived in the community it serves. Dedicated to providing everything serious student athletes and passionate sports amateurs alike might need; Grayson Sporting Goods definitely delivers the goods.
“It started out in the building where the beauty salon is,” Jane Tackett said. “Then we moved to where the tanning beds are in 1980.”
Tackett’s ex-husband, Larris Bush, was the ‘sports guy,’ she admitted. But Tackett herself spent many hours building and running the business that became such a welcome fixture in Grayson. She remembers a lot of hard work and long hours, but those memories are fond ones.
“We started out carrying a lot of shoes and casual wear,” Tackett said of the early years of Grayson Sporting Goods. “And we lettered shirts for teams from local schools and little leagues.”
Tackett said they sold many of those lettered shirts for $3.50 each.
“We had them in different sizes and colors,” she said. “And everyone would just come in and grab them.”
She said each purchase was rung up by hand and each receipt in those days was handwritten. Tackett was directly involved in the business until September of 1999.
Mike Keaton took over the business at that time, and said that he started out ‘going with the flow’ to get comfortable with the business. But only a year later the business experienced a fire that could have been an absolute catastrophe if not for some ‘benevolent vandalism.’
“This building here used to be the storehouse,” Keaton said of where the business showroom is now located. “Jane and Larris sold pool supplies, backboards, rims, football helmets, just tons of stuff.”
That, he said, was where the fire started.
“By the time I got the call and got here, the community had broken out the front window, opened the back door, and were in a building that was on fire trying to rescue my merchandise.”
Another of Keaton’s memories, apart from the interaction with a wonderful and loyal community, was entering into the first wave of what would become the information age.
“You could call your orders in sometimes,” he said. “But then they started insisting on faxing the orders in, so I had to buy a fax machine.”
“We were really blessed,” Keaton said. “We had good customers and good employees. Jane had some good employees that I inherited, and they stayed with me until they retired.”
Keaton also remembers changing the shirt aspect when he and one of his employees were at a trade show and he purchased a machine to cut his own letters for shirts rather than buying them pre-cut from a supplier.
Keaton sold Grayson Sporting Goods in 2021 to Chris and Brooke McFarland, who of course put their own imprint on the business while maintaining the level of quality and service the community had come to expect. Chris McFarland said one of the things he brought to the business was newer technology in printing and designing shirts.
“Now there are direct to film transfers which have an unlimited number of colors. And that really opens the door to customizing personal apparel for the customer,” he said.
But McFarland also faced his own unique challenges.
“Coming off of COVID, inventory was a nightmare,” he said.
Supply problems were prevalent with almost every vendor, he said. Fortunately, they were able to weather that challenge and bring their own vision to life. And that vision still includes team apparel and sports equipment, personal apparel, footwear, and varsity jackets.
“I love the varsity jackets,” McFarland said. “They’re really cool and old school, and I’m glad the kids are still buying them.”
McFarland might enjoy ‘old school,’ but his business is definitely tech savvy. They are able to take all methods of electron payments whether they are ‘tapped, swiped, or scanned.’
“We have definitely had to evolve with the times,” he said. “You either adapt and grow, or you get left behind.”
McFarland said that he wants to provide everything his customers might need – just like Keaton and Bush before him did. If he doesn’t have it, he can order it, and if you’re not sure what you might need, he can help you find it. Grayson Sporting Goods has served Grayson for fifty years, and Keaton said he wants to carry on that tradition of service into the next fifty years.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
