In Black America; We Ball Sports, with Nehemiah Mitchell and Darreon Herring

From the University of Texas at Austin, KUT Radio, this is In Black America. You know, after sports, you know, didn't really work out for me. And, you know, I was working like a regular 9 to 5 job. I didn't really find too much interest in it. And I was looking for a different options than like what else should I do with my life. I remember when I played football that there was a particular type of towel that we used to cut. You know, a skinny long dimension and we used to call them streamer towels. And if you know anything about football, you know, the normal towels like that you see on most players are like, and traditionally have seen are like these big bulky towels. But I've always noticed, you know, through watching, you know, just being a habit football fan, watching the likes of being on Sanders, Reggie Bush. And, you know, a couple other players that they used to like wear these long skinny towels.

And, you know, I used to wear them in games. Well, near my Mitchell, co-founder of ReBall Sports. ReBall Sports is the e-commerce site specializing in trend setting, high quality football gear, and sports apparel, had affordable prices to players of all ages worldwide. ReBall Sports is the first profitable African-American online sports apparel store. The three founders are former Division 1 athletes under 30. These young business savvy designers coming from Atlanta and Oakland, entered their football career to create this special e-commerce business. Recently, E-Ball Sports announced a retail merchandise partnership with Urban Edge Network whose own historical black colleges and universities, HBCU League Pass. ReBall Sports become partners with HBCU League Pass' mission to reconnect HBCU baseball back to his Negro baseball league legacy with branded Integrated Apparel.

I'm Johnny Ohenson Jr. and welcome to another edition of In Black America. On this week's program, ReBall Sports with co-founders, Nehemiah Mitchell, and Darian Herring in Black America. So, I mean, me and Nehemiah, like, you know, we both went to Vanderbilt together and we were really good friends there. So, once Nehemiah came to me with the idea and everything about the streamer towels, and there was like nobody out there doing it, I was intrigued right away. And then from there on, you know, we just kind of grew and just kept expanding on different products and everything like that. But it started with Nehemiah with the idea and everything, and you know, it was fortunate to be brought along for this journey. ReBallSports.com is the most visited privately owned e-commerce football equipment business globally, achieving 500,000 visits by the end of July 2021, and has built a brand that has earned the trust of athletes nationwide.

Founded in late 2017 by Brendan Royal, Darian Herring, and Nehemiah Mitchell, all former D1 football players under 30. The trio is saying, example, that there is life outside of collegiate and professional sports. They found the strategy by transcending high-quality football gear and equipment, at affordable prices to players of all ages across the world. The detailed design created by the brand are already popular among youth, college, and professional athletes. This include players in the national football league, the Canadian football league, and individual athletes. Last year, they expected $1.5 million in sales by the end of December, and in 2020, they should yield up to $5 million in sales. Recently, in black Americans spoke with co-founder Nehemiah Mitchell and Darian Herring. This is a Nehemiah Mitchell. I was born and raised in Hayward, California, you know,

a little bit right outside of Oakland and San Francisco in the Northern California area. You know, grew up always playing sports, basketball, football, baseball, and was fortunate enough to go to a Catholic high school called baseball doubt, where, you know, we're pretty prominent in California in the sports sector, you know, winning state championships and basketball, and always going deep in the playoffs and football. So, yeah, I ended up there. Had a successful career playing basketball and football, and ended up getting a full-ride scholarship for football to Sacramento State University, and, you know, the state capital of California Sacramento. And shortly after that, after two years, I, you know, kind of decided that state wasn't for me and was looking for, you know, kind of a bigger option and a bigger platform to play at, and thought that I had the skills to play at a bigger school, because Sacramento State was a D1 AA. So, I kind of went on a limb and left Sacramento State,

to junior college, the city, college of San Francisco, one of the, you know, one of the best, most renowned junior colleges in all of California, you know, multiple state championships. And I just went there for one year and was fortunate enough. I had a really good seed in that year and was fortunate enough to get another full scholarship to Vanderbilt University, and that's where I met our co-owner, Darren Herring. And, yeah, that's, I guess, this is a little bit about me. And, you know, after my career at Vanderbilt kind of stumbled into Weeball Sports, and, you know, I'm glad to, you know, expound upon that, you know, as we get into this talk show. I understand. Darren, tell us about it yourself. Yes, sir, so my name is Darren Herring. So, I'm originally from Atlanta, Georgia. I've been here my whole life, just like me and my, I've been playing sports my entire life. And I end up graduating from a high school in Stone Mountain, Georgia, called Stevenson High School. And it's pretty much a funnel for, like, student athletes to go to college. I think we had about 21 people in my senior year,

get scholarships to go play football at the next level. I was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to go to Vanderbilt University. So, I went there in my four years, like me and my sit. That's where I met him at there. And then, once I graduated from Vanderbilt, luckily, I was picked up on a free agent deal to the LA Rams. I was with them for a few months, and then things just didn't work out between us. So, I came back home, was training for a little bit. But I know, like, a lot of athletes, they kind of get stuck in that loop of trying to play. But I just wanted to go ahead and get my career started. I went ahead and got a job. I was making good money doing that. And then, that's when, you know, NEMI kind of came with the idea for Weeball Sports. Right off the back, you know, I was interested in, you know, it's been great ever since. I understand. So, what was like playing football at Vanderbilt? Vanderbilt was cool. It's definitely a good city. You know, Nashville is very popular. It's a growing city. It's almost like a, it's a little bit more country than Atlanta. But it's still a really nice city and all.

But going to Vanderbilt there, because it's actually right downtown. So, you got like the city life and everything is like everything like that. And it was overall, for me, it was a good experience. I heard that. So, who's the third person in the group? Another co-owner, Brendan Royal. And I met him, you know, through playing sports. I know him since high school. And we also went to Sac State together. And then we both, Sac State ended up at our junior college city, city college San Francisco. And then he actually ended up going to UTEP and, you know, played there and had a pretty good career. And, yeah, we all, you know, came together to create this collective. And we both sports and, you know, haven't really looked back ever since. So, how did you all come up with the idea? Who came up with the idea first? I guess that's the question. Yeah, so this is, again, this is me and Maya. So, yeah, initially, you know, after sports, you know, didn't really work out for me. And, you know, I was working like a, you know, regular nine to five job.

I didn't really find too much, you know, interest in it. And I was looking for, you know, different options in like what, what else should I do with my life? So, I remembered what, when we, when I played football, that there was a particular type of towel that we used to cut. You know, a skinny long dimension and we used to call them streamer towels. And if you know anything about football, you know, the normal towels like that you see on most players are like, I have seen are like these big bulky towels, but I've always noticed through watching, you know, just being an avid football fan, watching the likes of Deon Sanders, Reggie Bush. And, you know, a couple other players that they used to like wear these long skinny towels. And, you know, I used to wear them in games as well. And a lot of my teammates and I just figured out it was such a popular product. However, nobody made it. You know, the only way that you could really make it is kind of just, you know, get a bathroom towel and cut it. Yeah.

So, you know, and exploring that and doing more market research. I know, yeah, again, notice no one made it. Nike under Armored Deed is none of these big football manufacturers made it. So, I went and kind of just drew up what I thought the correct dimensions would be. This and research found some suppliers and manufacturers order some samples. And then when I got the samples back, I was like, it's kind of like the aha moment you're like, yeah, this is it. This is, you know, this could be something. And, you know, through playing football on my not life, knowing a lot of athletes. I was fortunate enough to know a lot of people who are already in the NFL. And, you know, already playing. And, you know, some already having pretty successful careers and having big platforms. So, you know, and knowing that I use a strategy, which is known as, you know, as as you're doing these processes, you're not really thinking about how you're doing it. But when I look back, the strategies known as influence or marketing. So, through the network that I was fortunate enough to build and play with a lot of people who have been to make it to the NFL. You know, just gave them the towels.

And then also did my own research and found out players who wore those type of towels in the games. So, we ordered like 2,000 towels and we ended up giving out 1,200 for free. Not really expecting anything. Just sending a, sending a towel and a message of people on Instagram and just saying like, hey, you know, if you, if you like the towels, we would appreciate if you could wear them in the game and possibly shout us out on your Instagram. If not, no problem, you know, throw it in the trash. And slowly but surely we started seeing a lot of these players starting to wear our towels during the game. Players like Jen and Ramsey, Jamal Adams, Tyrone Matthew. And this is just some of the bigger players that we don't know. We don't have any relation with. And then along with me knowing people and us knowing people and just sending towels to people who are already in the NFL. And then, you know, getting feedback like, yo, I had one of my friends who happened to play on the Niners. He was like, I had, you gave me 30 towels. They're gone in 5 seconds. And everybody was like, how, why, why did we never think of this?

So, yeah, shortly after that, we knew we had something, but we just had to figure out how we were going to market it and penetrate. You know, just penetrate the market, the football market and get it into the hands of consumers because ultimately that's what you want to do. You started to make money. You don't start a business just to give out product for free. So, yeah, that's kind of like the start of it. And, you know, from there, you know, we learned a lot. And we were able to kind of build off of that same model and launch other niche products within the football community. That a lot of people were looking for, but wasn't was not like creating and that they couldn't find. And we'll be happy to speak more about some of our other popular products as well that are extremely unique. What did you do to rebuild sports? So, I mean, me and Nehemiah, like, you know, we both went to Vanderbilt together and we were really good friends there. So, once Nehemiah came to me with the idea and everything about the streamer towels and there was nobody out there doing it. I was intrigued right away. And then from there on, you know, we just kind of grew and just kept expanding on different products and everything like that.

But it started, you know, with Nehemiah, with the idea and everything and, you know, it was fortunate to be brought along for this journey. So, why e-commerce instead of a brick and mortar? This is Darian speaking. Just with how the world is working these days, everything is going digital. Everything is going online. It's just a lot easier, low overhead costs and things like that. You know, there's for us necessarily with the products that we sell, we don't need necessarily a brick and mortar right now. Everything is just all online. You know, it's just a lot easier that way. And I think in the next 10 years or so, we're going to see just a big, a lot of these companies are going to get away from the brick and mortar and go just straight to, you know, digital marketing e-commerce and things like that. They're not going to be brick and mortar. There's not going to be a lot of that kind of stuff still out here. Now, me and Nehemiah are more than just towels. Talk to us about some of the other products you are in. So, one of our most recently most successful products is our extra long socks. And last year in 2021, we sold over 30,000 pairs.

So, basically what these socks are, they're like really long. So, players can like pull them all the way up kind of to above their knees and then like kind of scrunch them up. And we've seen that we saw this trend really popular with players like Odell Beckham, who's, you know, one of the biggest trend setters in the football community. And you know, once we saw this trend, we figured out that like, you know, that type of sock that has that type of length is not really accessible in the market. And then as well as that is not accessible in different sizes and different color variations. So basically what we did, we created that what we call the extra long padded sock. And then it also has padding on the on the heel part to, you know, protect athletes from blisters and things that I sort of just give a more comfort and better feel during, you know, athletic performance. So, those socks were really big for us. And in 2021, it kind of, I would say we were kind of already on the map, but it really solidified our spot within the football community as we sold over 30,000 pairs. And we were just really fortunate. And yeah, we were just really fortunate to capitalize off of that trend that we saw.

And yeah, it also allowed us to capitalize on different inefficiencies that we saw within our business as far as like our supply chain because we initially first released a product, we only ordered like about a thousand and those instantly sold out within two days. And then next we order 2000 that same, we got that order within a couple more weeks and then that sold out in two or three days. So we had to figure out how do we calculate, how do we estimate the correct amount to order so that we're not constantly selling out a product because when you don't have product on your shelves, you're losing money. And, you know, that's a really important strategy that you need to understand when starting a business. You all are under 30. What does it mean to you all being young entrepreneurs and setting a nutrient and a new look forward for African Americans, particularly? So this is daring and speaking again, I mean, it just means a lot to us that, you know, I know to be African American and then also being happily that a lot of people just look at them like that's all they know, you know, sports, that's all they're going to ever know.

But, or ever, yeah, or ever be good for, but it's good that we can show these other younger people and younger generation that there's life after sports or whatever your dreams, you know, my, my dream was a plan to NFL, it didn't work out, you know, I mean, fortunately, we were, you know, we kind of used like a mindset that we had going into football, hard work, you know, work ethic and things like that that we were able to build this, this business and brand and, you know, just learn, I mean, it took a lot of long nights, a lot of hard work from us. You know, a lot of people don't realize it's all it takes, you know, just a little hard work, a lot of work ethic and things like that, you just got to have those core values in you and you'll be able to succeed in life. Did you all pull you all money together and you all went to banks or investment houses to put just to put the finances together? Yeah, so initially, like I said, our first order was, and our first initial product was only 2000 towels. So, you know, that little money, I think the order was like $2,000 or $3,000, you know, that was like the money that we saved in, you know, that, you know, me and bringing our dairy on just pool together.

And yeah, after that, every dollar that we've made, we've just reinvested into the business to either, you know, create better, you know, to enhance our website, create better product, you know, R&D on different products, you know, order samples. And, you know, of course, pork purchase more inventory so that we could sell, you know, more dollars worth of products. So, yeah, so literally everything that we've made, we put, yeah, we just bootstrapped and we put back into the business and we really haven't had the need to, you know, access access any like bank loans or credit lines or anything like that at this current stage of our business. I read that you all have an HBCU hook up now. Yes, sir, talk to us about.

Yeah, so we were fortunate enough to partner with the company by the names of HBCU leak pass and HBCU leak pass has a, well, they have an app streaming app where they have all the games and like events that are happening within like kind of the HBCU, you know, realm of things in the HBC world. Yeah, through that app, they also sell, you know, a peril and merchandise and things of that sort. So we partner with this company to provide all the peril for that for that app because they're, you know, through that app, they're going to have so they have so much traffic. We're coming to that app and, you know, streaming these different games and events from bands and things that I sort. And then, you know, these people, they may want merchandise from their HBCU or, you know, whatever event that they're watching. So we were that we have partnered with them to become the official apparel provider for these different HBCU was a difficult or hasn't been difficult and finding vendors, manufacturers of you all's products. I mean, this daring and speaking, by the way, for us, you know, in the beginning of, I would just say our overall business was a little tougher to find trusted manufacturers to kind of know what our quality and those kind of things are that we were looking for in the business.

But I think over, I mean, of course, a four or five years that we, you know, we found those manufacturers that we trust and they also trust us as well. And that we got to the point where, you know, we're not really concerned more so about our products, you know, having defects and things like that. Because, you know, these are companies we've been working with for the last couple two to three years. And we're just trusted with them now. So for us, we've kind of already found our manufacturers that we're using, you know, our list of manufacturers that we trust and that, you know, we're going to keep going with until, you know, otherwise. You mentioned two, three years. So how long has we bought sports been in existence? Since our late 2017, 2017, also with the HBCUs, are you are doing baseball uniforms or did I read that incorrectly? Yes, so we also with the HBCU, with the HBCU platform, they also have the license to, you know, use the likeness of the Negro League baseball teams. So we'll also be producing a peril for that as well.

So yeah, we were fortunate enough to get that locked down and everything like that. So what has the traffic been like in recent years to the e-commerce site? So last year we had a traffic wise, we had over a million visitors and these are unique visitors to our website. So we were able to do that by running, you know, a lot of social media ads on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Google. And just, you know, being aware of the times that we're in and knowing that, you know, people are always on their phone looking for products to buy or just looking for the next big trend. As we were able to, you know, scale our ads, we found a lot of success in, you know, just bringing traffic to our website from, you know, the different creatives and advertisements that we, that we were able to place in front of our consumers. As part of you all's business plan, what is the future five years out, 10 years out, where you all want to be?

As far as five years, five to 10 years out, I mean, we just, you know, we're taking the day by day right now. We just keep planning on year after year, just continue growth. I mean, our numbers from 2020 and then our numbers from last year, we've seen a substantial amount of growth in just one year. And then we also, you know, we're estimated to do really good this year as well. So currently, like our main focus was football. That was kind of our main thing at the moment. Now we're also getting into basketball and then we plan on, you know, going into different sports as well as because we know those are all different markets. I'm out there and, you know, each market has its own, you know, unique customer. So we're just trying to find, you know, our way, our path into those different markets of customers by unique products that, you know, we can provide all of those people. If I had, if I was able to kind of picture it to you, we would kind of our vision is maybe is to be the next dig sporting goods, but to make every all of the products in house. So we're not like getting products from other manufacturers, make everything all the products you see are products that we actually manufacturing.

And we may manufacture them for all different types of sports, not just football. We started in football, but we're going to branch out into, we're branching out to basketball and then we may get into lacrosse baseball. And all these sports have different accessories and different trends and different products that are specific to that sport. So we want to be the retailer that's able to provide high quality equipment or an accessories for consumers that play these sports and at affordable, you know, price that doesn't break their pockets because, you know, from us, from, you know, when we grew up, we didn't always have all the most money to go and buy all the newest gear and everything like that. So it's really important for us to have, you know, affordable pricing so that anybody who wants products from us is able to, you know, get them. Are you all still looking at different unique products as you came up with the idea for the towels and the socks that will particularly be unique to any particular sport?

I mean, are you talking about the, the streamer towel and the socks for like us, is that like a unique product for like other sports as well? Well, looking at developing products similar to the towels and the socks that will be unique to other sports. Correct. Yeah. So actually right now we're getting into basketball as well. So we also have a unique product that we started to produce last year and did it really well for us actually. So instead, I know a lot of people, they buy like for basketball players underneath like their shorts, they wear like the own tight. Right. A lot of them were actually just cutting one leg off of it, so it would be like a single leg tight. So what we did, we went ahead and pre-manufactured it. So it was just a single leg tight on its own. You don't have to worry about buying a $60, $70 pair of tights and then destroying them. You can just come to us and they're at affordable price as well. So we're just always constantly looking at the trends and just ways we can, you know, make unique products that just aren't out there on the market. We just try to capitalize on that mark before anybody else will.

So you all decide on which leg to right leg and the left leg and what? Oh, we have both. So if you if you want a long right leg, we have that if you want a long left leg, we have that as well, different colors, different colors, different lengths, everything. We thought of it all. That's unique gentlemen. A couple more questions. What has family and friends reaction since you all made the transition from athletics to entrepreneurs? Well, with this Darian speaking on my behalf, you know, it's been really exciting. I know like a lot of families out there look at, you know, people who are decent in sport to kind of, you know, be almost like the person who makes it for the family. But, you know, luckily, if I've had like siblings and things like that that they're very supportive of, you know, our business, whenever we need help, they come and help us, you know, no issues, anything like that. So they've been really supportive and I know my brother, you know, he always likes to brag about my older brother.

So, you know, that's really good that, you know, he can kind of brag about, you know, he younger brother doing successful things. I know a lot of times when watching NFL games or actually go to the game if he sees, you know, see, he points out players wearing our towels and things like that. So it's been real interesting. Now, this is me and my, I would say for me, it's more so the, just the inspiration that I'm able to give to like a lot of family and friends because, you know, I feel like a lot of people are like in the stage of their life where they kind of don't know what they want to do moving forward. For me, a lot of my friends were former athletes. So, you know, it's kind of hard for them once they either put the, you know, put their cleats up or drop the ball down, figuring out how they're going to maneuver in life and like what their purpose is because a lot of people grow, grow up playing sports, think their purpose is that particular sport that they play and making it to the highest level and making millions of dollars. So, for me, it's just like showing people that there's another way you don't have to be an entertainer, you don't have to be a rapper, you don't have to be a ball player.

You can just have an idea and through hard work, through dedication, through persistence, you can build it into something that you would never think that was possible. And that's kind of like what happened with us, like, just what we built, I would have never ever thought, you know, in my wildest dreams that that one product would be able to build a whole business. And in my miniature co-founder, a rebar sports. If you have questions, comments or suggestions ask the future in Black America programs. Email us at inBlackAmerica at kut.org. Also, let us know what radio station you heard us over. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You can hear previous programs online at kut.org. Also, you can listen to a special collection of in Black America programs at American Archive of Public Broadcasting. As American Archives.org. The views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or of the University of Texas at Austin. Until we have the opportunity again for technical producer David Alvarez, I'm Johnny O'Hanston Jr.

Thank you for joining us today. Please join us again next week. This has been a production of KUT Radio.