In 1951, Tuffy Brooks, who was a star football player at Steele High School, then Indiana before going to Europe as a combat engineer during World War II, left Flynn’s to open his own store downtown with Preston Chappell at 42 N. Jefferson St.
All those other stores are gone, Chappell was bought out and Tuffy Brooks moved his store to 101 S. Keowee St. in 1965, where the store continues to stand and operate.
Two ownership groups later, Tuffy Brooks continues to abide by the slogan written on the side of its building — Where the Teams Buy.
Jim Dineen and John Napier now own the store, which has outlived not only all the old downtown sporting goods stores, but some big box stores as well.
“What we try to do is serve the customer,” Dineen said. “There’s a lot of competition, even in our area. We outfit a lot of teams, and football is our main sport.
“It hasn’t been easy,” Dineen said. “We hired (sportscaster) Don Brown. He has a good name and can get into schools. They know him.”
Tuffy Brooks has also pared down its product selection.
“We don’t sell Nike and Adidas because we don’t sell their shoes,” Dineen said. Too many styles, too many colors, too many brands, plus the competition from the mega stores and websites. “You have the everyday challenge with the Internet.”
According to the National Sporting Goods Association, more than $26 million in equipment is projected to be sold this year (up 5 percent from last season), more than $17 million in footwear (up 2 percent) and nearly $11 million in clothing (up 10 percent).
That doesn’t even count recreational equipment such as bicycles, pleasure boats, RVs, snowmobiles and the like.
Some stores specialize. Where once only true sporting goods stores or shoe stores carried what used to be called sneakers, now certain stores carry only shoes and limited clothing and other items related to them.
Other than some specialty shoes, Tuffy’s has been out of the sneaker business for years.
What Tuffy Brooks carries is sporting goods. There’s a wall of baseball gloves, racks of bats, a pile of football shoulder pads, basketballs and all the clothing you’ll need to actually play — and some to look good on the sidelines.
In the back are old posters and pennants, remnants of past owners.
David Pfeiffer — who passed away earlier this summer — bought the store in 1979 from Brooks, who died in 2004 at the age of 86.
Pfeiffer sold the store to Dineen and Napier in 2001, when there were multiple locations, including one at the Town and Country Shopping Center and a downtown outlet store. Only the Keowee store, with more than 10,000 square feet (8,000 of it warehouse), remains.
To keep pace with the bigger stores such as Dick’s, Tuffy’s joined Team Athletic Goods (TAG-1), a national buying group. Dineen and Napier say 70 percent of their business is team sports, but there is still considerable walk-in traffic.
“We get a lot of grandpas and grandmas in with grand kids to show what a true sporting good store is,” Dineen said. “We have competitive prices.”
The store also does silk screening and embroidery, such as the name tags for the Dayton Dragons when that team receives new players.
Dineen, 61, graduated from Chaminade High School and Wright State University. He worked part time at Tuffy’s, and then a salesman’s job opened up. He’s been here ever since, 35 years.
Napier, 48, is from Beavercreek and attended Wright State and Sinclair Community College.
The two work the phones and visit with customers, especially during the busiest time of year, July 15 to the end of August, when teams begin buying football gear. The store also does a big baseball business with college and select teams.
“It could go an another 50 years,” Dineen said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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