Hillyard, Inc. (earlier known as Hillyard Disinfectant Company and Hillyard Chemical Company) is a privately owned

cleaning products Cleaning agents or hard-surface cleaners are substances (usually liquids, powders, sprays, or granules) used to remove dirt, including dust, stains, bad smells, and clutter on surfaces. Purposes of cleaning agents include health, beauty, removing ...

company in

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includ ...

with a speciality in providing products for cleaning and maintenance of wood

basketball court In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor, with baskets at each end. Indoor basketball courts are almost always made of polished wood, usually maple, with -high rims on each basket. Outdoor sur ...

s. The company fielded two

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

national champion basketball teams in the 1920s and was instrumental in the founding of the

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

(where an exhibit celebrates its contributions to the sport). In 2007 the company had an estimated $120 million in sales and employed 600 people. Newton S. Hillyard founded the company in 1907 as a cleaning supplies manufacturer. Hillyard's son Marvin asked him to sponsor a basketball team. N.S. then developed the company's signature cleaning supplies that made the floors "less oily." In 1920 the company moved to a new building that included a 90 x 140 foot wood gymnasium floor—claimed to be the largest west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

at the company headquarters where the company tested gym seals and finishes. The company then sponsored the Hillyard Shine Alls basketball team that won the

national championships in 1926 and 1927 (and also played in two other AAU national championships in 1923 and 1925). The team was led by

Forrest DeBernardi Forrest Sale "Red" DeBernardi (February 3, 1899 – April 29, 1970) was an American college basketball player in the 1920s. Standing 6 ft. 1 inches tall, DeBernardi was one of the best centers of his era, and played all five positions. ...

. During the Hillyard domination charges surfaced that Hillyard was paying its amateur players or that the players had no-show jobs at the plant. The controversy passed without any formal action taken against the company. Elliot C. Spratt, a Hillyard son-in-law, was the founding president of the Basketball Hall of Fame. The

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, head men's basketball coach at the University o ...

gives the Newton S. Hillyard Memorial Award to its outgoing president. Other Hillyard family members including Haskell Hillyard have received the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award at the Basketball Hall of Fame.hoophall.com
/ref> Hillyard plays a major role at

Missouri Western State University Missouri Western State University is a public university in Saint Joseph, Missouri. As of 2019, it enrolled 5,413 students. History Missouri Western State University was founded in 1915 as a two-year institution called St. Joseph Junior College ...

. Spratt Stadium is named for Elliot C. Spratt. The Hillyard Tip Off Classic is a basketball tournament at the school.

References

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External links

hillyard.com
Companies based in Missouri Cleaning products Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Chemical companies established in 1907 1907 establishments in Missouri