Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame

Patience, resilience and teamwork. 

KENT McKEAIGG learned those valuable skills from playing sports as a teenager. He used those same skills to change the game of the sporting goods industry with a vision that led to his induction into the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame Class of 2023. 

Today, McKeaigg, the founder and board member of OrderMyGear (OMG), and the founder and owner of Team Gear Flow, stands out as someone who has modernized the way sporting goods and apparel are sold and fulfilled. 

“Most of us don’t have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, and fewer of us have what it takes to create a successful business that transforms an entire industry,” said Dave Dutch, OrderMyGear CEO. “I am so impressed with what Kent accomplished at OrderMyGear during the 10 years before I came on as CEO in 2019. From hiring his first employee, a local friend who was still in high school and learning to code, to helping over 3,000 clients grow their business with technology, Kent created a successful business model and has employed over 100 OMG’ers. 

“If I look back at what Kent believed in and what he had to do to achieve his dream, I think he must have been crazy. But I have come to appreciate that passion, genius and craziness are all part of the recipe that drives entrepreneurial success. He imagined what ‘could be’ and set a standard that multibillion dollar brands and dealers tried to buy and ultimately copied.” 

McKeaigg revolutionized the sporting goods industry by developing the OMG eCommerce platform, which simplifies the sporting goods and apparel ordering process for coaches and players, heightening team dealer success and opening doors for new opportunities. 

This innovative technology was created after seeing his father Ronnie, a team dealer in Oklahoma, struggle to organize paper order forms for high school teams. For team dealers, sorting orders, checking payments and fulfilling orders was a mundane, time-consuming and error-prone process. For coaches, it was a hassle to wrangle paper order forms, remind players to bring payments to practice and communicate with the parents. 

“He changed the industry,” said Todd Adams, the CEO of the Sports, Inc., buying group. “Kent is a big-picture thinker and his expertise and passion put him a step ahead of other providers in terms of understanding what was important to sale representatives. 

“When he started OrderMyGear’s eCommerce platform, he recognized a problem his dad was having with team sales and sought to find a solution. OrderMyGear is a critical aspect of our dealers’ businesses and I’m forever grateful for his commitment to not only our organization but our industry.” 

McKeaigg saw a need in the industry and he set out to fix it. What started as a two-person operation has grown to a 100-plus employee company, supporting more than 3,000 dealers and decorators, winning over 35 national awards and making more than $22 million in revenue. With a commitment to building strong relationships in the sports industry, McKeaigg has also collaborated with powerhouse brands, like Under Armour, adidas, Augusta, and more, to offer a robust selection of high-quality products on the OMG platform. This has enabled industry brands and partners the opportunity to service end consumers in a modern, impactful way, which was critical during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Kent McKeaigg created a solution to the problems of team ordering and that solution in turn created an entirely new sales industry,” said Travis Elam, Director of Team Sports at Sports, Inc. “Hundreds of millions of dollars later, Kent’s creation has allowed team dealers to sell more and to be more profitable. Now we also know OrderMyGear has been one of the foundational elements that allowed independent team dealer businesses to survive the 2020 pandemic. OrderMyGear sales, which didn’t exist a mere 12 years earlier, were essential in 2020. 

“I cannot think of another contributor who created an entirely new revenue stream for team dealers and the entire team sporting goods industry owes Kent a debt of gratitude.” 

It goes without saying that Kent McKeaigg is a major name in the industry and will be known as someone who revolutionized the way coaches distribute uniforms and gear, team dealers sell and fulfill, and brands access and service customers. He has been able to achieve this with his extensive industry knowledge and experience and the long-lasting relationships he has developed over the years.