Buzz
David Beckerman, a 1966 graduate of the University of New Haven, decided to stop selling plaid golf trousers. While working as a salesman at a Duckster sporting goods store, he noticed that the uninspiring apparel on display failed to captivate the average sports enthusiast. Determined to make a change, he secured a $50,000 loan, invested $25,000 of his personal savings, and launched Starter, a licensed sports apparel company, in 1971.
After more than a decade of hard work, Starter achieved massive success. The company’s annual revenue soared to $400 million, and its iconic breakaway and satin jackets, adorned with professional league logos, became a favorite among musicians and athletes. The demand was so intense that incidents of theft and even violence, including fatalities, occurred as people sought to own these coveted jackets. Despite an offer from Nike to buy him out, Beckerman chose to remain independent.
Starter had all the ingredients to become a dominant force in the merchandising world. However, its success story was not destined to endure.
Beckerman, who grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, had a deep passion for basketball. He played the sport throughout his school years and continued into college, often competing in multiple leagues simultaneously. This enthusiasm for sports steered him away from his original ambition of becoming a teacher and into the world of sporting goods. In 1971, he persuaded an investor named Ruby Vine to back the launch of Starter. The name was selected for its straightforwardness—Beckerman believed all iconic brands were single-worded—and because every athlete aspires to be a starter.
Beckerman employed a single salesman to market products across three states: Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. Satin jackets were crafted for bowling leagues, local bar leagues, and high schools. However, Beckerman’s true aim was to capitalize on team loyalty. At the time, licensed sports apparel was hard to come by in stores. Beckerman believed it was absurd that a Chicago Cubs fan couldn’t simply walk into a store and purchase a team jacket or hat.
After securing a license from Major League Baseball’s Licensing Corp. in 1976, Beckerman started producing jackets, achieving $500,000 in sales that year. But Beckerman wasn’t content with just official apparel—he wanted it to be what he called “authentic,” ensuring that players and coaches wore the same items available to customers. Joe Torre, then-manager of the New York Mets, became an early advocate: Through a friendship with a Starter truck driver, he began regularly sporting the brand.
Licenses for the NBA and NHL soon followed. Beckerman’s biggest breakthrough came in 1983 when the NFL, after eight years of rejections, finally agreed to a deal. By then, Starter had secured partnerships with every major professional sport, along with hundreds of colleges gaining fans through televised games. The company also acted as a clothing consultant, significantly boosting team revenues: When the Chicago White Sox adopted a Starter-branded color scheme, their stadium’s apparel sales skyrocketed from $100,000 to $4.5 million annually.
Beckerman’s strategy extended beyond outfitting teams. He understood that consumers were loyal to brands and often dismissed products without recognizable logos. Noticing the trend of young adults wearing hats backward, Beckerman placed Starter’s star logo on the back of caps. He also spent time handling requests from movie producers seeking permission to feature Starter jackets in films like Coming to America and My Cousin Vinny. His son, Brad, connected with the music scene and even got Will Smith to endorse the brand. Starter became ubiquitous.
By 1991, Starter was generating $200 million in annual sales. The brand’s popularity was so overwhelming that its media coverage began appearing in crime reports.
In a 1993 interview with The Baltimore Sun, 12-year-old Damien Burgess shared that he owned and cherished a $69 Syracuse Starter jacket. He also admitted he avoided wearing it after sunset for safety reasons.
During the early 1990s, Starter’s popularity fueled a wave of robberies. The jackets, priced as high as $300, were so highly sought after that some thefts ended tragically: A 17-year-old in Ohio was killed over a Georgia Bulldogs jacket.
The grim headlines marked a chaotic period for Beckerman, who faced a series of bizarre setbacks in the late 1980s: a warehouse fire, a hurricane, and a tornado all led to significant inventory losses; a shipment from abroad included 250,000 items infested with lice; and thieves bypassed individual robberies by hijacking entire trucks.
Despite these catastrophic events, Starter’s success remained largely unaffected: In 1992, Nike CEO Phil Knight proposed to buy the company outright. Beckerman declined, opting instead to take Starter public the following year, achieving over $350 million in sales.
In 1994, Major League Baseball called off its postseason because of a players' strike. This period, typically the peak season for apparel sales, dealt a severe blow to Starter as the absence of televised games took its toll. Company spokesperson Ian Gormar informed the press that the financial impact would be “substantial.” The NHL lockout soon followed, leaving Starter without the sports that fueled its success—without players and trainers, the concept of “authentic” apparel lost its meaning.
After struggling for several years, Starter filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1999, reporting over $120 million in debt owed to major league creditors. The company went through multiple ownership changes before being acquired by Nike in 2004. By 2007, Starter was under the ownership of Iconix, which now releases limited-edition apparel catering to nostalgic Starter enthusiasts.
Beckerman exited the business and shifted his focus to real estate. Although the jackets are no longer as ubiquitous as they once were, his passion for sports remains undiminished: at 72, he’s coaching basketball in Connecticut.
