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From
athlete t0 entrepreneur
Former
linebacker scores
with college products
Rylan
Jollymore's fake front tooth never
played football with him. As a punish-
ing middle linebacker for the Griz during 1995-99, he'd
leave the tooth in the locker room and then flash a gap-toothed
grin at the opposing team's quarterback. "Wild man
coming," that smile said. "Here comes the pain
train."
Jollymore
freaked out a lot of quarterbacks during his eventful football
career. He also got in a few licks on current NFL star Randy
Moss during the 1996 championship game against Marshall,
and he was a UM Senior Linebacker of the Year and All-Big
Sky Conference Team selection. After leaving UM he played
the 2000 season with the Vienna Rangers of the European
Football League, where he led the team in tackles and also
saw action at running back.
Sadly,
the EFL doesn't pay much beyond room, board and travel,
so Jollymore redirected his passion for sports stadiums
into the business arena. Last summer he and partner Sara
Pankratz started JPW Enterprises Corp., a company that markets
unique collegiate products. JPW stands for "Jollymore-Pankratz
Wholesale."
The
company's main products are full-color 3-D wall plaques
of university logos. With UM, for example, JPW markets the
grizzly logo or the University's school seal. The first
hand-painted prototypes were done in plaster, but the company
has switched to a less-fragile resin manufactured in China.
"Our
products have been selling great," Jollymore said.
"I think it helped to be an athlete because I know
the college market, and I understand and enjoy the people
we get to work with."
Other
products JPW markets include stained-glass-inlaid stepping
stones, mugs, basketball nets, cookie cutters or wrapping
paper, all tailored for individual universities. Jollymore
said they now market products of 14 institutions -- ranging
from Montana State to Brigham Young, Penn State and Florida
State -- and they are seeking contracts from 20 more nationwide.
(Licensing
agreements, of course, require that the universities get
a percentage of any sales.) Not bad for a company started
five months ago.
Jollymore's
entrepreneurial streak manifested itself while he was still
playing for the Griz and earning a sociology major. He and
his mother, Nancy Gresham, started wholesaling pottery from
Mexico through a business called Imports West.
"It
was Mom's idea," he said. "We started sending
pottery up here by the semi-load." So he was busy during
his college days -- a student/businessman/defensive headhunter.
Jollymore's
parents bought him out of Imports West eight months ago,
and he got JPW Corp. rolling a few months later. JPW vice
president Pankratz, a Malta native who has an international
business degree from UM, joined the fledgling company in
July, and she's already helped line up manufacturing facilities
in China.
He
said UM licensing agent Denise Person was instrumental in
helping them get their first licensing agreement through
their alma mater, and they used that UM experience to branch
out to other institutions.
Jollymore
said local artist Linda Rush carves the models for the wall
plaques out of wood. The carvings are used to make molds
for the plaster or resin products, which are then hand painted.
The 3-D university logos are called the Pride Collection.
Jan Lindsey of Missoula creates the stepping stones, and
master potter John Ward of Florence crafts the mugs, while
other JPW products are manufactured out of state.
JPW
products are available in Missoula at Home Depot, Bob Wards,
Office City and the Bookstore at UM. They also can be bought
statewide at Ace Hardware and Universal Athletics. For more
information or to order products, call (406) 542-1504 or
go online to www.ThePridecollection.com.
Now
that Jollymore has turned in his shoulder pads for business
attire, he's mellowed quite a bit. He wears his fake front
tooth all the time these days -- no gap-toothed grins at
competing retailers -- and he's even willing to admit he
didn't lose his tooth playing football. He actually slipped
off a wet log and smacked his mouth on a rock while on a
high school fishing trip with his dad. But don't tell anyone.
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