Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame

Cathy Pryor took the lessons she learned as a Division I scholarship volleyball player at Clemson University and applied them in a different sporting realm. Her leadership as Hibbett Sports’ Senior Vice President of Store Operations was instrumental in the company growing from 28 stores to more than 1,000 and $1 billion in sales in her 32 years with the company.

Pryor will be the seventh female inducted into the Hall of Fame as she joins Gert Boyle (Columbia Sportswear),  Mary Cabela (Cabela’s), Barbara Longstreth (Longstreth Sporting Goods), Julie Nimmons (Schutt) and Elizabeth Goeke and Ellen Wessel (Moving Comfort). She also joins retired President and Chairman Emeritus Mickey Newsome as Hall of Famers from Hibbett. 

Pryor started her career in the industry in 1985 at Robby’s Sports in Florida as a Store and District Manager. She was with Hibbett from 1988-2020 and worked her way up the ladder as a District Manager, Director and Vice President of Store Operations and Senior Vice President of Store Operations and Executive Officer. 

She served the industry for eight years on the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) Board of Directors and was its first female Board Chair from 2019-20. She also served for more than a decade on the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame Committee. 

Pryor’s philosophies are to build a strong team, avoid being complacent, try new approaches, always look for ways to get better, think outside the box and get the job done. She understands the importance of building strong relationships anchored in trust and respect, which translated to decades-long success with her team and fellow members of the leadership team. She was named the Sporting Goods Woman of the Year in 1998, won the 2016 Retail Innovator Award by Retail Touch Points and was named one of Birmingham, Alabama’s Top Business Women in 2007. 

She hired, directed and developed a team of six regional vice presidents and 69 district managers who had an average tenure of 10-plus years at Hibbett. She advanced the employee culture based on the customers’ in-store experience and helped grow Hibbett’s e-commerce business channel.  She also advanced in-house video production for employee education and training and formalized industry-leading employee training programs. Her understanding of store operations, visual merchandising, and commitment to operational excellence are key components to Pryor’s success in the industry. 

Please note: This biography was produced from the nominating materials in the candidate’s nominating year, so the information is not current.