When Dick Stack was gifted $300 from grandma’s cookie jar to pursue his vision, he would never have pictured just how big his sporting goods company would grow … or how much it would give back.
Most kids couldn’t play organized baseball in mid-20th century Binghamton. With only four teams in the local Little League, space was very limited. Richard “Dick” Stack didn’t think that was right.
So, he rallied several of his fellow business owners to join Dick’s Clothing & Sporting Goods in sponsoring a dozen additional teams. Stack facilitated the expansion on one condition: players couldn’t purchase equipment at his store.
That’s just the kind of guy Dick Stack was. His daughter Kim Myers says that’s just the kind of company Dick’s Sporting Goods remains.
“We’re committed to youth sports and helping more kids be able to play sports for all the reason that we know sports can change lives,” she said.
Founded in 1948 as a bait and tackle shop on Binghamton’s east side with $300 from Stack’s grandmother’s cookie jar, Dick’s Sporting Goods has grown into a massive brand with more than 850 stores coast to coast. For more than a decade, it has formally championed youth sports with the DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation’s Sports Matter Program that has donated over $100 million and impacted north of 100 million children in under-resourced communities nationwide.
“This part of our DNA. It’s just who we are and who we will always stay true to,” Kim said. “My dad always told us there’s no such word as ‘can’t,’ and that’s what we live by.
“That’s what we believe in athletes too. We don’t want to say you can’t play, you can’t do this,” she said. “We’re going to all work together and we’re going to figure out how we can do it.”
Perhaps this extraordinary sense of optimism can be traced to an economic near-death experience for the franchise early on. Stack had opened a second Binghamton location that failed and put the flagship store out of business as well. He sold off everything: the inventory, his car and his home. But, a local bank had faith and loaned Stack the money to reopen the original location. The Stack family – all of whom staffed the store – never looked back.
“We’re committed to youth sports and helping more kids be able to play sports for all the reason that we know sports can change lives”
Kim and her brother, longtime DICK’S CEO and current Executive Chairman Ed Stack, put in uncountable hours at the original store as teens. Stack would often hire their friends as well, including a 16-year-old Tim Myers. He was a baseball teammate of Ed’s who went on to work for DICK’S for 49 years and managed the DICK’S Sporting Goods Open PGA Tour Champions event in nearby Endicott from inception.
The beloved annual event carries on a remarkable tradition of professional golf in the area that started with the B.C. Open PGA Tour event in the 1970s. In 2006, that tournament was in trouble. DICK’S stepped in to become the title sponsor and keep the tradition alive.
“We’re very proud of it. We’re happy to be able to bring golf and keep golf in this area,” Kim said. “When the golfers come here, it’s pretty amazing how much they just love this area. They love the course and they love this tournament.
“What it gives back to the community is huge and we couldn’t be prouder of them,” she said.
“That’s what we believe in athletes, too. We don’t want to say you can’t play, you can’t do this. We’re going to all work together and we’re going to figure out how we can do it.”
The Open has raised more than $20 million for local charities, a great legacy for her husband Tim Myers, who passed away suddenly in 2021. Local donations to the DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation poured in and naturally Kim wanted to give back to the community in some way. She worked with the Discovery Center of the Southern Tier to install an exhibit dedicated to Tim in its popular Story Garden. They extended the collaboration with an exhibit dedicated to getting youth interested in sports with interactive simulators as well as the company’s inspiring story.
“The kids can learn to dream and say, ‘Wow. If they did that – if Dick Stack started something like this with $300, what can I do?’” Kim said. “These are the things in the Binghamton area we are so proud of – that we have something like this that we can showcase, that kids can experience.
“This is where we came from, this is where my dad came from. This is where all my siblings and myself were born and raised and this is what gave us our start,” she said. “And we couldn’t be where we are today without Binghamton.”
DICK’S has shown its commitment to its hometown throughout its growth, which exploded in the 1990s and 2000s. They added a major distribution center nearby in 2018 and more recently selected Johnson City as the site for its largest House of Sport to date.
The House of Sport concept elevates the typical retail store to an experience. There’s a rock climbing wall, a turf field that converts to an ice rink in winter, golf simulators, batting cages and tons of other cool stuff that complements the massive inventory and meaningful displays, including tributes to local pro sports and a mini-DICK’S museum that tells the Stack family story. There’s a definitive list of services for athletes of all kinds and a prominent focus on inclusion, particularly when it comes to adaptive sports and women in sports. The community programming and events really bring everything full circle in Kim’s mind.
“That really started with my dad expanding the Little League, you know, saying that was important to do for the community,” she said. “What I know my dad would be the proudest of – what we as a family are the proudest of – is the ability to use this platform to help other people through sports, through whatever we can do for the community.
“It’s an amazing platform that we have and we don’t take it lightly. We take it very seriously and with a great sense of pride,” Kim said. “I can’t say it enough that the local community and local people – they’re always in our hearts, they’re always in our mind. We will never forget where we came from.”
