Prince Global Sports, LLC is an American sporting goods manufacturing company based in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. Founded in 1970, Prince's range of products includes

racket Racket may refer to: * Racket (crime), a systematised element of organized crime ** Protection racket, a scheme whereby a group provides protection to businesses or other groups through violence outside the sanction of the law * Racket (sports equ ...

s, footwear, apparel, tennis balls,

pickleball Pickleball is an indoor or outdoor racket/paddle sport where two players (singles), or four players (doubles), hit a perforated hollow polymer ball over a net using solid-faced paddles. Opponents on either side of the net hit the ball back and ...

paddles,

stringing machine A stringing machine is a tool used to install strings into a racquet through a process called racquet stringing. These machines vary in features, accuracy and price. Stringing time Stringing a racquet can take up to an hour for a novice, or aro ...

s, hats and bags. Prince is the leading global manufacturer of tennis rackets.Prince Sports Group, Inc. History
on Funding Universe

History

The company was founded in 1970 by Robert H. McClure of

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

(the origin of the company's name) as a manufacturer of tennis-ball machines, and soon after,

s. Howard Head, founder of the

Head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

sporting goods company, took tennis lessons following his retirement and used a Prince tennis ball machine, but was frustrated by his slow improvement. Head joined the Prince company in the early 1970s and developed the company's signature oversized tennis racket. Although the Prince Classic aluminum racket was the first oversized racquet to be patented, the

Bentley Fortissimo The Bentley Fortissimo tennis racquet of 1972 was the first oversize tennis racquet to be produced and demonstrated publicly.

preceded the patent by two years, causing Germany to invalidate the patent. During those years, the company was owned by a variety of different firms, including the Benetton Group of
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, Lincolnshire Management, Inc. (which acquired Prince from Benetton in 2003) and
Nautic Partners Nautic Partners is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout investments in middle market companies across a range of industries that includes healthcare, industrial products, and outsourced services. The firm has AUM of approximately $9 ...
LLC. In July 2012, Authentic Brands Group acquired the Prince brand name from Nautic Partners in a procedure that included a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 reorganization in
U.S. Bankruptcy Court United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy c ...
. Prince Sports' portfolio of brands included Prince (tennis, squash and badminton), Ektelon (racquetball) and Viking (platform/paddle tennis). Its tennis unit recorded $59 million in sales in 2011. Authentic Brands owned the intellectual property rights for the estates of
Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
and
Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...
, among other celebrities.Our business (timeline)
on ABG websitePrince Sports to be Sold to Authentic Brands Group in Bankruptcy Proceedings
by Thomas J. Ryan, May 4, 2012 By September 2012, the Waitt Company agreed to a 40-year license to operate the Prince
brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
. Prince Global Sports now operates as a subsidiary of Athletic Brands Holding Company, which is majority-owned by the Waitt Company. The company's portfolio of brands also includes Ektelon, Viking and Battle. After recovering from bankruptcy, in March 2014 Prince announced that it would move its headquarters from
Bordentown, New Jersey Bordentown is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 3,924.Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
. Prince's
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
Mike Ballardie stated that Atlanta had a thriving tennis community with more people playing tennis than any other American city, which made it a great base for the company. Atlanta also boasted the largest city tennis league in the world, with more than 80,000 members of the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association.Prince Tennis Moves Corporate Headquarters From New Jersey To Atlanta
by Darren Heitner on ''Forbes'', 27 Feb 2014

Sponsorships

Tennis

Men
* John Isner *
Marcel Granollers Marcel Granollers Pujol (; ; born 12 April 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 19 in July 2012, and his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4 in February 2013. Granollers h ...

Women
* Mona Barthel * Vera Zvonareva

Retired players
* Guillermo Coria * David Nalbandian *
Gabriela Sabatini Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine-Italian former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 ...
*
Pat Cash Patrick Hart Cash (born 27 May 1965) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 4 in May 1988 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 6 in August 1988. Upon winning ...
* Pat Rafter * Peng Shuai * Jana Novotná * Albert Costa *
David Ferrer David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain Davis Cup team, Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour (ATP Tour 250, ATP 250, ATP Tour ...
*
Juan Carlos Ferrero Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year became the 21st player to hold the top ranking, which he h ...
* María José Martínez Sánchez * Marion Bartoli *
Oliver Golding Oliver Golding (born 29 September 1993) is a former British professional tennis player and former child actor. Showing promise in reaching a world junior ranking of number two and being the 2011 U.S. Open Boys' Champion., Golding failed to tran ...
* Annika Beck *
Alex Bogomolov Jr. Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Bogomolov Jr. (russian: Александр Александрович «Алекс» Богомолов; born April 23, 1983), nicknamed Bogie, is a Russian-American retired professional tennis player. Tennis caree ...
* Nikolay Davydenko * Maria Sharapova * Jelena Janković * Daniela Hantuchová *
Johan Brunström Johan Brunström (born 3 April 1980) is a professional Swedish tennis player. His highest ATP doubles ranking is no. 31, which he reached on 22 March 2010. His career high in singles is no. 377, which he reached on 24 September 2007. He made hi ...
*
Kent Carlsson Kent Carlsson (born 3 January 1968) is a former tennis player from Sweden. A seasoned claycourter, he won all nine of his ATP tour singles titles on the surface, including the 1988 Hamburg Masters. Carlsson achieved a career-high singles ranki ...
*
Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors. Agassi is the second of five men to ach ...
*
Bob Bryan Robert Charles Bryan (born April 29, 1978) is an American former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. He has won twenty-three Grand Slam titles: 16 in men's doubles and 7 in mixed doubles. He turned professional in 1998. With his twin ...
* Mike Bryan * Jennifer Capriati *
Michael Chang Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He is the youngest man in history to win a singles major, winning the 1989 French Open at 17 years and 109 days old. Chang won a total o ...
* Kathy Rinaldi *
Pam Shriver Pamela Howard Shriver (born July 4, 1962) is an American former professional tennis player and current tennis broadcaster and pundit. During the 1980s and 1990s, Shriver won 133 titles, including 21 singles titles, 111 women's doubles titles, an ...

Squash
*
Ramy Ashour Ramy Mohamed Ashour (born September 30, 1987, in Cairo, Egypt), known as Ramy Ashour (), is a retired professional squash player from Egypt, widely regarded as one of the best squash players in the history of the sport. He became the youngest pla ...
*
Camille Serme Camille Serme (born 4 April 1989 in Créteil) is a former professional squash player from France. She reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 2 in February 2017. Career As a junior player, Camille Serme won three European Junior Champi ...
*
Emily Whitlock Emily Whitlock, (born 15 February 1994 in Macclesfield, England) is a professional squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extreme ...
* Rebecca Chiu *
Delia Arnold Delia Arnold (born 26 January 1986, in Kuala Lumpur) is a former professional squash player who represented Malaysia. She reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 12. Career Arnold, coached by Ahmed Malik and Peter Genever began playin ...
*
Peter Nicol Peter Nicol (born 5 April 1973) is a former professional squash player from Scotland, who represented first Scotland and then England in international squash. In 1998, while still competing for Scotland, he became the first player from the UK ...
* John White *
David Evans David, Dave, or Dai Evans may refer to: Academics * Sir David Emrys Evans (1891–1966), Welsh classicist and university principal * David Evans (microbiologist) (1909–1984), British microbiologist * David Stanley Evans (1916–2004), British a ...
* Cassie Jackman *
Julien Bonetat Julien Bonetat (born 28 June 1971 in Tours) was a professional squash player who represented France. He reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 13 in November 1996. Bonetat represented France during the 1989 World Team Squash Championshi ...

References

External links
* {{Sports equipment brands Sportswear brands Sporting goods manufacturers of the United States Tennis equipment manufacturers Clothing companies established in 1970 Manufacturing companies based in Atlanta 1970 establishments in New Jersey Authentic Brands Group