This Baton Rouge native has built a football manufacturing powerhouse

Chris Calandro, a Baton Rouge native and LSU graduate, transformed a personal passion into a thriving business with Big Game USA, now a leading football manufacturer.

As Business Report writes in its latest issue, his journey began in the early 1990s when, after Broadmoor High School’s appearance in the state championship, he sought to commemorate the event with custom footballs for the coaches.

Facing rejection from major manufacturers unwilling to fulfill small orders, Calandro took matters into his own hands, purchasing footballs from a sporting goods store and hand-painting them.

Recognizing a market gap for custom, small-batch footballs, he founded Big Game USA.

Today, the company supplies footballs to numerous NCAA programs, including LSU, and is renowned for its innovation and quality. It’s also looking to expand to the NFL.

Read the full story here.

This story was originally published by Daily Report on May 15. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.