Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted tosses a pigskin following ribbon-cutting ceremonies Monday at the new Wilson football factory in Ada. Members of the Ada High School grid squad watched as Husted, a former collegiate player himself, threw a pretty tight spiral.
J Swygart | The Lima News
ADA — Earlier this year, on the night when conference championship games were being played that would determine the National Football League’s representatives in Super Bowl LVIII, Andy Westling and a select team of employees at the Wilson football factory were gathered in the company’s corporate offices in Ada.
Games were being watched, pizza was being consumed and a good time was generally had by all. By the end of the evening, however, there was much work to be done in an extremely short amount of time.
Westling, plant manager at the Wilson facility in Ada, and his team by midnight knew the two participants in this year’s Super Bowl to be the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. It was the job of Wilson execs — along with the 150 employees at the Ada plant — to start churning out the one-of-a-kind footballs that would be used exclusively on Super Sunday.
Westling recalled that evening on Monday during a ribbon-cutting ceremony held to dedicate a new Wilson factory to replace an aging facility that had been producing the official footballs of the NFL in Ada since 1955. Wilson’s affiliation with the league goes back to 1941.
The plant manager told the crowd of the excitement that filled the room that evening as the Wilson employees began work on what would culminate just three short days later, when every football used in the league’s biggest game had been assembled, stamped to commemorate the teams and shipped to the NFL.
“Knowing that we were the only company that gets to make those footballs … it still gives me goosebumps. The dedication, passion and pride of the folks who work here is amazing,” Westling said.
Those employees, who for years toiled in a factory that was devoid of air conditioning, today are churning out Wilson footballs in a much more comfortable environment. Wilson broke ground on a $15 million, 80,000-square foot facility in May 2023. Production inside the new plant began last month. Roughly the size of six football fields, the factory produces about 2,200 footballs each day. Westling said the company hopes to increase output and make even more footballs in Ada.
“We’re growing the business, and we’re hiring … right now,” he said.
Wilson Sporting Goods last month announced an extension of its partnership agreement with the NFL to coincide with its new facility, which includes a gift shop, museum and tours for visitors.
On hand for Monday’s grand opening was Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted. He traced Ohio’s link through the history of football, from the first-ever pro game on Oct. 3, 1920, in Dayton to the home of the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton; from two-time Heisman Trophy winner and Ohio State Buckeye standout Archie Griffin to Super Bowl Champion Ben Roethlisberger from nearby Findlay.
Husted said that when Wilson announced plans to expand in Ada, officials from JobsOhio and other state agencies stepped up with incentives and tax credits “because we knew how important this factory is to the community and to Northwest Ohio.”
Ada Mayor Dave Retterer called Monday’s ribbon-cutting “a fantastic event.” He said Wilson “has been good for this community and the people in it for years. There has always been a symbiotic relationship between the company and the village.”
State Rep. Jon Cross, R-Kenton, and State Sen. Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, each presented Westling with proclamations from their respective legislative bodies in recognition of Wilson’s decision to remain in Ohio.
Husted, a collegiate football player and a member of the University of Dayton’s Division III championship team in 1989, took time after the ceremony to toss the pigskin with members of the Ada High School football team in attendance before touring the factory.
