By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
Since June of 2003, Randy McKinney and his crew at Athens Athletics have been “decorating” all of Athens and Limestone County. We are talkin’ everything from T-shirts to trophies, coffee mugs to caps. In a word, “If it can be decorated, we’ll decorate it!”
For the two decades previous to opening the shop, Randy worked at Steelcase, which was a solid, steady job for a young husband and father of three sons, including a set of twins. However, like so many folks, Randy had a desire to be his own boss and own his own business. He considered starting a construction firm, or a store that sold only sporting goods. He settled on what became somewhat of a hybrid—certainly there is a solid sporting goods inventory, however, the “bread and butter” of Athens Athletics has always been custom decorated shirts and hats.
A very smart move that Randy made that served them well especially during COVID was to become a rental site for U-Haul. It helped keep their doors open, and I can say from experience that we have used them on more than one occasion to help people in our life move into Alabama the Beautiful, and have always been given the best possible service. In addition, Randy has made shirts for Athens Now and has made some dearly-loved custom caps for my husband, Steve, who is an over-the-road trucker.
When one walks into Athens Athletics, it is clear that a love for baseball is central to the life of the owner. There are old posters of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, and over the years, the McKinney family has traveled to almost all of the major league baseball stadiums in America. Fenway Park and Wrigley Stadium are among Randy’s favorites, and he and his sons also love playing the game.
To learn the trade, Randy took two weeks of vacation and apprenticed at a store in Athens that no longer exists. Then, after putting in his notice, Athens Athletics opened up, and the real learning curve began. Randy laughs when he says that at the beginning, he kind of thought he would be able to have ESPN going all day long out on the main floor, and he would be able to catch most broadcasts. However, it soon became apparent that being a business owner would mean doing the lion’s share of the work for several years. He is quick to point out that he has a great crew that keeps the place hummin’, and now that his wife Beth has retired from her long career with Athens City Schools, she is helping with some of their new services. The Athens Athletics crew includes Karen Owens, Brianna Smith, Jessica Samples and Mandy Marks. And, of course, Beth is “the best wife in the world!”
Beth spent years teaching math, STEM, IT, and more, and in 2017 Dr. McKinney became the principal of Cowart Elementary, now known as Spark Academy. She retired two years ago, and has been instrumental in helping Athens Athletics launch their online store, which also serves as a fundraiser for local schools and organizations. The McKinneys chuckle when they say, “Beth brought the store out of the dark ages.” Having an online store makes it possible for Athens Athletics to serve the community by streamlining the shopping experience in general, and will be expanding that service. As it pertains to a fundraiser, the way it works is that the organization decides how much they want to charge for the particular T-shirt, settles on the design, and after Athens Athletics covers their costs, whatever is left over goes to the group promoting the shirt. Randy is happy to have been able to recently write a check for $1800 after a fundraiser closed that went free-and-clear to the organization that utilized the online store option. Athens Athletics compiled the order, did the legwork, produced the shirts, and also managed to promote the store in one fluid motion. “We do spirit wear for the whole county, and that means every school,” Randy said, and now that school has started back up, there will be a lot of that going out the doors of Athens Athletics.
Speaking of “fluid motion”, a major purchase was made in the form of a new machine known as a DTF, or Direct to Film machine. It is faster, can produce one shirt to a thousand with equal ease, has the same high-quality result, and is a whole lot easier on the humans involved than with the traditional silk screen approach. It can also produce custom shirts with up to 16 colors per shirt, which makes for far more creative options than were possible before.
Athens Athletics still is totally involved in traditional screen printing, and in addition, they do sublimation, computerized embroidery, engraving, wood carving, customizing cups, and more. If it can be decorated, they will decorate it! Stop by today and let them show you what they can do for you, your business, or your group.
Athens Athletics
701 US-31 S, Athens, AL 35611 (256) 232-6038
Hours: Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-noon
Facebook: Athens Athletics
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
September 6, 2024
