Spalding puts faith in Hogan's signature

Ben Hogan never liked the idea of his company being sold to Cosmo World, the Japanese conglomerate best known for buying Pebble Beach. When the deal was inevitable, he met Cosmo's president for lunch and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I don't know if you know what you've bought," Hogan told Minoru Isutani on that day 10 years ago at Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth. "This company is the family jewels. I hope you're smart enough not to screw it up."

Cosmo never got the message, but Spalding Sports Worldwide has taken it to heart.

Spalding became the fourth owner in 13 years last November when it bought the Ben Hogan Co. from Bill Goodwin and set out to restore one of the most respected names in the golf-equipment industry.

"We probably have one shot at this," said Rick Watson, who moved over from Top-Flite to become the marketing director of the Hogan Co.

It fireworks start on 5th November at Shady Oaks, when Valerie Hogan will be on hand for the launching of the new Apex forged blades, for years the symbol of high standards that her husband demanded.

"I think it's perfectly wonderful," Mrs. Hogan said. "I've had such a wonderful feeling, for the first time since Ben's death, that something good was happening."

Among other things, Spalding has gone back to the Ben Hogan signature for a logo, recognizing the greatest asset in the acquisition was the Hogan name. Kevin Martin, president of Evenflo & Spalding Holdings Corp., said two months after the purchase: "We believe with Ben Hogan we have the Babe Ruth of golf. We have big plans for the Ben Hogan name."

Perhaps more importantly, it returned the Hogan operation to Fort Worth.

"The people here are so happy," Mrs. Hogan said. "It means so much to them to have it back here. There was a deep affection between the employees and Ben."

When Goodwin moved the Hogan Co. out of Texas in 1993, only 22 of about 600 employees went to Virginia. Upon returning to Fort Worth, they found an old roster of hundreds of former employees who had given up on a company that kept changing management.

From that roster, six people were offered jobs, and five accepted. Among them were a quality inspector who had been with Hogan for 25 years, and a chief assembler of nearly 20 years who left his job in a steel mill to go back to work in the name of Hogan.

"We went out and got the A-team," said Nick Raffaele, a former Hoganite rehired as operations manager of the Fort Worth plant. "I always joke with Spalding that it was like the Dirty Dozen -- we went out and got those people out of jail."

Spalding approved the relocation to Fort Worth on Sept. 28. Three weeks later, production was under way.

The new Apex is essentially a combination of two previous models -- the muscle back and toe line of the popular 1988 irons, which Tom Kite used to win the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 1992; and the slightly larger, channel back of the 1994 version.

The design took shape throughout the year with input from Kite and Justin Leonard, who used the '94 Apex irons to win the Open Championship last year at Royal Troon, just six days before Hogan died.

"This is a club I think Mr. Hogan would be proud of," said Leonard, who grew up playing a set of "Little Ben" irons. "It's for people who want a pure, forged blade and want to feel everything. Those are the kind of clubs Mr. Hogan was making and playing himself."

Hogan started his company after returning from a ticker-tape parade in New York in 1953, the year he won the Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship. He and Dallas real-estate tycoon Pollard Simon went into the venture together, but Hogan bought Simon out after an incident that defined his pursuit of perfection on and off the course.