by Harmon Jolley
posted April 13, 2008
) Grand opening advertisement for Martin-Thompson Sporting Goods. Click to enlarge. |
Martin-Thompson Sporting Goods was a place where athletes young and old trekked for the best equipment. I recall going there to buy a baseball glove, and being thrilled to go to the upstairs of the store where I was told a new shipment of gloves awaited. The small store was filled to capacity with every sporting good imaginable.
The store was in existence longer than many readers – and certainly this writer – might have guessed. Founders Hubert “Buddy” Martin and J. Charles Thompson raised $3,000 in capital to open their store on December 1, 1923. Their new venture competed against a couple of retailers one might not imagine selling sporting goods. T.H.Payne Company, known primarily for office supplies, and Prater-Palmer Hardware were listed in the city directory under Sporting Goods.
Both Martin and Thompson had been involved in retail sales, including sporting goods, prior to forming the partnership. Mr. Martin had been a salesman for the Rhea Springs Mineral Water Company. Mr. Thompson had been a clerk at T.H. Payne, where he opened the sporting goods department. He had also excelled as a basketball and baseball player for Central High, and played professional baseball as a young adult.
The Martin-Thompson Sporting Goods Company opened on the first floor of the Eastern Hotel on the southeast corner of Market and Eleventh streets. The 75-room hotel, which offered rooms for 75 cents to $1.50 per night, had been constructed in 1907 as the first built by developer J.B. Pound. The Eastern Hotel met its demise in 1951 to make way for a new TVA office building.
In 1925, Martin-Thompson relocated to 706 Cherry Street, an address that it would keep for the next thirty-five years. During that time, the two owners became well-known for community involvement. The September 26, 1946 edition of the Look-In periodical declared Buddy Martin its Man of the Week for having led the sale of 3,000 tickets prior to the start of the University of Chattanooga football season. Both men were sponsors of area youth athletics.
Charles Thompson passed away in 1958. Buddy Martin continued as president of the firm, and led its relocation in 1960 to the former Stovall Hardware site at 711 Cherry Street. The new address provided three times the space of its former location, which was being demolished for a parking lot.
Martin-Thompson gained a new rival in 1955 with the opening of Lookout Sporting Goods by Fletcher Sims, Sr. New athletic shops soon opened in the suburban communities around Chattanooga.
In 1978, H.M. “Buddy” Martin sold Martin-Thompson to three Chattanoogans, including Jerry Wilson, a former principal of Ooltewah High School. Two years later, Martin-Thompson relocated to a 6,000 square-foot store at 627 Broad Street, adjacent to Hub Furniture. The presence of a nearby parking garage was expected to make the store more accessible.
Martin-Thompson eventually closed as large national sporting goods chain stores began to appear in the area. Co-founder Hubert M. “Buddy” Martin passed away in 1981. Today, many of us still fondly remember the personal service and the variety of sporting equipment which the downtown retailer had.
If you have memories of Martin-Thompson Sporting Goods, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@bellsouth.net.
) Familiar neon sign of Martin-Thompson. Click to enlarge. |
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