Nokona Baseball Gloves: America’s Pastime, American Made

“Everybody thinks it’s just whatever glove you have on your hand, but it becomes part of you, part of your body.” — Craig Biggio1

 

The phrase “flashing the leather” is a common saying in baseball. These words are used to acknowledge an excellent play made in the field by a defensive player. Of course, the leather is symbolic of the players’ baseball glove. While this catchphrase may reference a defensive play in baseball, “flashing the leather” is a way of life in Nocona, Texas.

Nocona is located approximately 88 miles north-west of Dallas and eight miles from the Oklahoma border. The city is named after Comanche Indian Chief Peta Nocona. It was founded in 1887 and incorporated in 1891.2 Situated in Montague County, Nocona has a rich history in manufacturing; however, homemade products became a booming success in Nocona—in particular, leather goods.

The Nocona Boot Company was founded in 1925 by Enid Justin. The tradition of making legendary and stylish boots in Nocona is carried on today by Fenoglio Boots.3 Enid was the daughter of H.J. Justin, who started making boots in Spanish Fort on the Red River in Montague County in 1878. After the elder Justin’s death in 1918, Enid’s brothers wanted to move the company to Fort Worth. However, Enid was against the relocation, but in 1925, the Justin Boot Company did move to Fort Worth. Enid then started the Nocona Boot Company.4

Nocona Leather Goods Company was founded in 1926 by Cadmus McCall and T.B. Wilkes. The company produced handbags, wallets, and various other leather goods. However, when the stock market crashed in 1929, demand for wallets and handbags plummeted. Bob Storey, who worked for an oil company, arrived in Nocona in 1931. McCall was also the president of the local bank that took control over the leather plant.5 Storey fell in love with McCall’s daughter, Mary. When the oil company that employed Storey wanted to relocate him to Louisiana, he did not want to end his relationship with the young lady, and McCall installed him as the manager of the leather factory.

Noting the change in the nation’s demographics, the company correctly predicted that there would be a need for sporting goods out West. In 1932, they began to manufacture baseball gloves and footballs, and in 1934, when applying for a patent changed the branding on their gloves from Nocona to Nokona, spelled with a “k” because the patent office would not let a city’s name be trademarked.6 Today their line includes not only baseball gloves, but also softball gloves, uniform belts, and other accessories.7

 

Most Nokona gloves sport an embroidered geometric logo, but the red “retro” logo of a Native American is available as a custom option. (Nokona.com)

 

Most Nokona gloves are made from cowhide or steerhide, but some are made from kangaroo leather, with other exotic leathers available in their catalog.8 A tannery in Milwaukee sends the leather in smooth, butter-soft sheets. Another in South Dakota sends bison. The kangaroo skin is sent from Australia for their Nokonaroo model. The goal is a mitt or glove that is soft and pliable and needs no breaking in by the customer.9

The side of a cow measures approximately 25 square feet, enough for four or five gloves.10 To manufacture one glove, it may take 4½ to 5 feet of leather. For each glove, up to 25 pieces are cut by hand using a set of custom dies. Over 2000 cutting dies are in use in the factory.11 One of the only automated parts of the process is the embroidery of the logo, which is done by machine, but all the rest of the stitching and welting is done individually by skilled sewers.

The most important step in producing a glove is stitching. It may take a worker up to two years to learn to sew a first-class glove. An experienced sewer can turn out a dozen gloves a day.12 Two thirds of the cost for a Nokona baseball glove—typically $500 to $750, but ranging from $250 for a “My First Nokona” model up to $1,200 for some of the exotic leathers13—is labor. Each glove at Nokona must be hand-laced. Rob Storey— Bob’s grandson, who is vice president of the company today—says that a machine has yet to be invented that can lace a glove.14 Webs are also woven by hand.15

When the main part of the stitching is done, the glove is inside out. Each finger must be inverted, stretched onto a hot iron (shaped like a giant metal hand), have its lining fitted, and then be resewn. Next, the new gloves are pounded with a mallet until they are smooth. A petroleum jelly with the consistency of peanut butter is applied as an adhesive between the lining and the outer shell of the glove, and then the lacing is done, with over 120 holes for the tensile-strength leather cord to be stitched through.16 The finished glove is then “broken in,” pounded in the pocket and moisturized with lanolin. “Up to forty different labor operations go into making a glove,” says Storey.17

Many of the gloves have a red label stitched to the wrist strap with the words “American Made” and “Nokona Since 1934.” In 2014, the company switched from a logo depicting a Native American with two feathers in his hair to a modern, minimalist logo of square (or diamond) with two parallel lines, meant to invoke the original.18 The “retro” logo is still available as a custom option.

One service that Nokona provides its customers is that they will rebuild and recondition their older gloves for a nominal fee. “It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever heard, and I’m a dealer,” said Randy Jatzlau of Budget Sporting Goods in Houston.19

While there are many stories and theories about how to break in a glove, Storey tells one interesting tale. A customer claimed a brand new mitt was defective and had returned it. Storey said that the customer had oiled the glove, wrapped it around a ball and put it in the microwave to dry. As a result, the material in the laces turned to plastic.20

During World War II, through a government grant, Nokona Baseball Gloves provided gloves and mitts to servicemen, whether they were stationed in Fort Hood, Texas, or Iwo Jima, Japan.21 Veterans wrote to Bob Storey, telling him what it meant to have an American-made glove delivered from Texas to them while they were so far from home. Troops played the American game of baseball wherever they were stationed. To survive the cold in the trenches, some soldiers in Europe ended up burning their gloves for heat.22

In 1988, another military contract came Nokona’s way. The contract was to manufacture headgear straps and carry bags for night vision apparatus worn by helicopter pilots used in the Gulf War.23

Nokona does not do a big-money business with player endorsements, but back when the Fort Worth Cats were a AA team of the Brooklyn Dodgers (1946-56), the team had an agreement where a player would give his signature to Nokona and in exchange receive two free gloves. Dick Williams, Chico Carrasquel, and Carl Erskine were some of those players who signed on with Nokona. These signatures would be stamped in the pocket. Today, MLB players such as Michael Kopech and Ryan Pressly lend their names and images to Nokona products including gloves and belts.24

That may have been true in Beringer’s day. But times have changed. The leather used now is not as durable as it was in past years. It would be a joke to say they don’t make cows like they used to, but that’s exactly the case. “Nowadays a steer comes out of a feedlot by the time it’s a year-and-a-half old. Which means we’re using 1½-year-old leather in our gloves instead of material that’s seven years old,” said Jim Storey, one of Bob’s sons.26

As a result, one glove today may make it through one season, maybe two. One alternative is to choose kangaroo leather, which is lighter and four times stronger than cow, but it’s also more expensive. But people buying Nokona ball gloves are not looking for a bargain price. “Our niche in the market is sentiment,” said Rob Storey, Bob’s grandson. “People want the best and they want American.”27 The other American glove companies like Wilson and Rawlings began offshoring their operations in 1960, leaving Nokona now the last manufacturer of gloves still in the United States.28

Hollywood has also made calls to Nokona. In the 1951 biopic movie Jim Thorpe—All-American, the production company (Warner Bros.) ordered 10 snub-nosed footballs from Nokona to be used in the movie.29 In Field of Dreams (1989) and A League of Their Own (1992), replica vintage Nokona baseball gloves were used in the production of each movie.30

Nokona Gloves is a family-run business that treats their employees like kin. Bob Storey’s sons, Jim and Bob, also led the company, before passing the reins on to Rob. On July 18, 2006, a fire broke out, engulfing Nokona’s 75,000 square foot factory in flames that blazed for two days. The fire was believed to have begun in the shipping department and spread quickly. About 80 firefighters from eight fire departments battled to extinguish the fire, nearly depleting the city of its water supply. The cost of the damage was an estimated $5 million (around $8 million in today’s dollars).

Rob Storey vowed to rebuild the plant. “The building wasn’t the company,” said Storey. “The employees were the company.”31 Although their work hours were irregular during rebuilding, not one employee missed a paycheck and the entire staff of over 40 people were paid for all 51 days they were out of work.32 The factory had to move into the old Nocona Boot Co. building. It was a makeshift setup, but it was the only building large enough to accommodate the space Nokona needed. (Eventually, in 2017, the old boot factory became the permanent home for Nokona gloves.) The fire was a major setback, and in 2010 Nokona was forced into bankruptcy. Another sporting goods company, Cutters, bought a majority stake in Nokona, and aided them in modernizing their marketing and focusing the business on direct sales of ball gloves, revitalizing the company.33

In 2018, Nokona launched its online custom glove store, which allows a customer to custom-build a glove by dictating every aspect, including the color, type of leather, and stamping on each element of the glove’s style, lining, webbing and more. At the same time, they launched a line of accessories called ShowBelts, referencing “the Show” as a nickname for Major League Baseball, custom designing belts to MLB player preferences. Nowadays when you see players wearing anything other than the standard-issue uniform belt— for example, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen wearing snakeskin or Bryce Harper’s belt sporting his player number on his belt’s keeper loop—you can be sure that custom belt was manufactured by Nokona.34 The belts are also fully customizable, just like the gloves. In 2024, Nokona announced that All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals would be the brand ambassador for ShowBelts, and in 2025 they added Pittsburgh pitching phenom Paul Skenes.35

In 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nokona Gloves started manufacturing face masks. They came in three different styles: form-fitted, draw string, and woven.36

Today, Nokona produces gloves that come in all varieties and colors. Baseball, softball (fast pitch or slow pitch), Little League, and of course left-handed gloves and mitts. A quick check in a Dallas-area sporting goods store reveals that Nokona gloves retail between $300-$400, while Rawlings and Wilson models can be purchased for as low as $150.

The evolution of baseball gloves has generated many additions from the flat mitt with no fingers to the high-tech variations available today. One thing that has not changed, though, is the thrill of picking out that first glove.

“That was my first glove, and I still have it today,” said Nolan Ryan of his Nokona. “The reason it was so meaningful to me is that… I was the last of six kids. We didn’t have a lot of disposable income, so it was very big when I got to go down and pick out my own glove.”37

Nokona brings these memories, like the one expressed by Nolan Ryan, to thousands across the country and beyond. The smell of the leather, the rubbing in of the glove oil, the pounding of the pocket, are personal acts that connect us to the game of baseball. We’re fortunate that this element of our National Pastime still has a home in America.

JOSEPH WANCHO resides in Westlake, Ohio. He has been a SABR member since 2005 and he serves as co-chair of the Baseball Index Project. He is an occasional contributor to various SABR research committees.

 

Notes

1. Kirk Bohls, “An Old Glove Story,” Austin American-Statesman, July 16, 2006: C9.

2. City of Nocona, Texas website, https://cityofnocona.com/home, accessed January 22, 2025.

3. Nocona Chamber of Commerce website, https://www.nocona.org/heritage/leather-goods.html, accessed January 22, 2025.

4. Helen Fenoglio, “Miss Enid Justin’s Story: From Catalog Sacker to Boot Factory,” Wichita Falls Times, December 15, 1968: 15C.

5. 1930 United States Census, Ancestry.com.

6. Barbara Green, “Nokona building fits new purpose like a glove,” Wichita Times Record, February 25, 2018: 21.

7. Nokona Chamber of Commerce website.

8. “Exotic,” online catalog page features ostrich, alligator, giraffe, elephant, and shark skin. https://nokona.com/product-category/ballgloves/exotic/, accessed April 2, 2025.

9. Jim Fuquay, “Nokona runs hand-on-game,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, September 9, 1990: 4-2.

10. Mark McDonald, “Family Takes Pride in Making Ball Gloves,” Sunday Oklahoman, March 7, 1993: B9

11. Brian Schildhorn, “How a Nokona Baseball Glove is Made,” Bloomberg News, September 13, 2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2018-09-13/how-a-nokona-baseball-glove-is-made-video, accessed April 7, 2025.

12. McDonald, “Family Takes Pride.”

13. “Ballgloves,” https://nokona.com/ballgloves/baseball/, accessed April 2, 2025.

14. McDonald, “Family Takes Pride.”

15. Ann DeFrange, “Labor of Glove: Factory Makes Baseball Memories,” The Oklahoman, May 15, 1994: 22.

16. Bohls, “An Old Glove Story.”

17. Schildhorn, “How a Nokona Baseball Glove is Made.”

18. “Our Story: A New Look for a New Generation,” Nokona Ball Gloves website, https://nokona.com/our-story/, accessed April 7, 2014.

19. John Austin, “Leather and Laces,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, October 25, 2003: 10C.

20. DeFrange, “Labor of Glove.”

21. In 2023, Fort Hood, named after a Confederate general, was renamed after General Richard Edward Cavazos, the first American Mexican four-star general; Mark McDonald, “Family Takes Pride in Making Ball Gloves,”: B9.

22. DeFrange, “Labor of Glove.”

23. Jim Fuquay, “Nokona runs hand-on-game,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, September 9, 1990: 4-1.

24. “Pros,” Nokona company website, https://nokona.com/pros/, accessed April 7, 2025.

25. Austin, “Leather and Laces.”

26. Carroll Copelin, “The Business of Baseball,” Wichita Falls Record News, May 8, 1986: C1.

27. DeFrange, “Labor of Glove.”

28. Jeff Miller, “Inside America’s Last Domestic Manufacturer of Baseball Gloves,” Texas Monthly, June 3, 2024, https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/nokona-last-domestic-baseball-glove-manufacturer/, accessed April 7, 2024.

29. Dick Collins, “Nokona Leather Firm Colors Baseball Gloves,” Wichita Falls Times, November 16, 1952: 4B.

30. “Our Story.”

31. Kevin Robbins, “With Bare Hands and Heavy Hearts, Nokona Will Rise Again,” Austin American-Statesman, July 23, 2006: C1.

32. Kat de Naoum, “Nokona: The Last American Manufacturer of Baseball Gloves is Here for the Long Haul,” Thomas Business Insights, June 25, 2024, https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/nokona-the-last-american-manufacturer-of-baseball-gloves/, accessed April 7, 2025.

33. Kat de Naoum, “Nokona: The Last American Manufacturer of Baseball Gloves is Here for the Long Haul.”

34. Paul Lukas, “The Company that’s Revolutionizing MLB Belts,” Inconspicuous Consumption, August 30, 2023, https://www.inconspicuous.info/p/the-company-thats-revolutionizing, accessed April 7, 2024.

35. “Nokona Announces ShowBelts™ Partnership with All-Star Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.” PR Newswire, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nokona-announces-showbelts-partnership-with-all-star-shortstop-bobby-witt-jr-302260619.html, September 27, 2024;”Nokona Adds to the Star-Studded ShowBelts® Roster,” PR Newswire, February 14, 2025, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nokona-adds-to-the-star-studded-showbelts-roster-302377376.html, accessed April 7, 204.

36. Lauren Roberts, “Nokona Ball Gloves Starts Making Masks,” Wichita Falls Times Record News, April 30, 2020: 1A.

37. Tim Madigan, “Leather and Laces,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 7, 2008: L3.