ADA – In recent months leading up to the village’s signature Wilson Football Festival, there was a lot of focus on the Wilson Plant itself and what an asset it has been to the community. And it, indeed, has. But, frankly, if it hadn’t been for pig bladders and this guy from Kentucky, there’s a good bet that Wilson football factory might have never been located in Ada, Ohio…
First, the pig bladders.
These airtight membranes were used as the first sports balls. They were blown up using lung power and tied at the end.
The size of the ball was determined by the size of the pig bladder. What’s more, these babies were far from perfectly spherical, so their bounce was less than true.
After a time, it was found that if you put a light leather casing over the bladder, the ball would last longer, and bounce a bit truer. Especially in sports like soccer.
Eventually, the pig bladder was replaced with what, in essence, was a rubber bladder. And then, enter the guy from Kentucky.
William Sonnet was selling sports equipment from his barn in Canyton, Kentucky in the early 1900s. He was selling baseball mitts, punching bags, sports balls…
When ball interiors were transitioning to rubber, he came up with one, of a number at the time, of ideas about how to inflate these balls. It entailed inserting a small rubber tube into the bladder as a conduit for air being pumped through a needle.
Ingenious!
Mr. Sonnet got a patent for it, started making a lot more money, and moved his operation, the “O-K Company,” out of the barn and into Cincinnati, Ohio.
One problem.
He’d moved his company to a street in Cincinnati adjacent to the Ohio River. And the Ohio River flooded that year, big. His warehouse was severely damaged.
He looked further north. And there it was, Ada, Ohio. A quaint, bustling village, an airport, nice rural landscapes – and no river to speak of.
The archives of Ada historian Leland Crouse’s Museum indicate that Mr. Sonnet bought the McCurdy Factory building in Ada in 1938. And for the next 15 years, the company continued to make all kinds of sports items.
Then, in December of 1954, the Wilson Sporting Goods Company bought O-K Manufacturing. And the rest is “Made in Ada” history.
