Jack Smith - Chmn, CEO of The Sports Authority - The Power Players

Discount Store News, Dec 4, 1995 by Richard Halverson

Jack Smith, chairman and founder of The Sports Authority, plays tennis with a Prince extender racquet - even though a good friend and frequent opponent is Kevin Kempin, director of national accounts for Head Racquet Sports.

"I don't worry about hurting the feelings of other vendors," Smith says. "I use what is the best for me to win. I sell what is the best for my vendors."

Smith used to play with Head racquets, Kempin says, but jumped ship three years ago because the longer Prince racquet helps his game. "Jack is fiercely competitive," Kempin says, "and will use whatever he can to win." But he plays within the rules.

"Jack is the kind of guy you hate to play," says Kempin, a competitive tennis player who attended the University of Utah on a tennis scholarship. "He's not flashy, not overpowering, but he gets every ball back."

And a key characteristic behind his success in developing a single sporting goods store into a billion dollar company in eight years is his willingness to look at new ways of doing things, whether merchandising with a new Nike Shop or investing in technology for the long haul, Kempin says.

Like Wal-Mart, The Sports Authority invested early in its life cycle in retail technology rather than shoot for short-term profits. That put the company ahead of the vast majority of its competitors. Smith is very good about being in-stock, but not over-stocked, Kempin says. He puts the onus on vendors to keep up with replenishment.

Moreover, "Jack just loves being a merchant and has a zest for the game," Kempin says.

The sporting goods superstore was around when Smith launched We first store in `87 after leaving Herman's. Smith's contribution to sporting goods retailing was to refine the concept and make it workable going into the future.

Superstores had the bad reputation of being warehouse-type operations, but Smith made the concept a pleasant shopping experience by offering plenty of service and a tremendous selection.

"He's taken the big box and made it workable," Kempin says.

In golf, Smith's use of Wilson Firestick irons and Callaway woods doesn't bother neighbor Harold Fletcher, who golfs with Smith at the Williams Island course. Fletcher is president of Formula Ventures, an exercise equipment company that does little business with The Sports Authority.

Smith has a good handicap, 14, but his business handicap is better. "Jack has a tremendous amount of foresight," Fletcher says. "He has a phenomenal feel for where the marketplace is going and what the consumer wants. Jack has an uncanny ability to provide the eight amount of service to keep consumers happy and still make money to keep his shareholders happy."

The key, according to Fletcher: "Jack is not afraid to dream and take a shot at executing that dream."

Smith's favorite Sunday pastime is tennis in the morning followed by an afternoon cruise on his 50-ft. motor yacht. Even then work follows him around - the Sports Authority is the name painted on the stern of his boat.

"I use the boat to relax on weekends. I don't have time to go cruising," says Smith, who also runs three miles a day to keep in trim. At age 60, Smith says, "I feel like a man of 40 with the energy of someone 30."

"I use philosophy of retailing darkens back to the basics. "There are no secrets in this business," he says. "I believe in the simple blocking and tackling of retail. Stay in stock, keep your stores clean, give good service."

He adds, "Your competitors carry the same products. You have to go the extra name and give customers something additional. We spend our energies at the store level. We invest in systems to stay in stock and we pay our bills on time to keep vendors happy."

Others can learn from his experience that "there are no shortcuts in retailing," Smith says. "To be successful, you must work at it 26 hours a day, living it and breathing it. You must make a plan and then executive it."

Too many retailers go off plan and take shortcuts such as holding midnight sales with everything 50% off, he says. "That makes customers distrustful. When I struck out on my own, I picked two role models: Bernie Marcus, Home Depot; and Charles Lazarus, Toys R" Us," he says.

Taking great pride in the accomplishments his chain has made in eight years, Smith proclaims, "Sports Authority has become The Home Depot of sporting goods," he says with Ms usual modesty. "Sports Authority is No. 1 in sporting goods. A lot of clones are copying [our] format. But no one can copy our people."

By the year 2000, consumers will be even more demanding, Smith predicts. "They will want show-manship he floor level from technically trained sales people who care about selling customers exactly what they want."