Hometown Pride Tour: Southern Bleacher

GRAHAM, TX (KAUZ) - What does the Graham high school stadium, Texas Motor Speedway, and Wrigley Field have in common?

All of the seating in those venues came from Southern Bleacher in Graham.

David Proctor works with Southern Bleacher as their General Counsel and said the most rewarding thing about his job is the finished product.

"It's pretty impressive to work at a place that touched different venues that we get to see on television every weekend," said Proctor.  "You get to see your work there on ESPN every weekend during college football season and college baseball season and during NASCAR season."

It all started in 1946 in Van Buren, Arkansas when Jim Geurin, a high school band director wanted to see his school have bleachers.

He then paired up with his friend Virgil Coleman and the idea for Southern Bleacher was born.

A few years later, the company made its way to Graham, after discovering another tool company called HUB.

The plan was to come and run that business with their bleacher business on the side.

Little did they know that Southern Bleacher would take off.

"We're one of those companies that you don't think about it existing," said Proctor.  "Of course there's a company that does nothing but build stadiums.  There's a lot of stadiums across the country.  More than anything it's pretty exciting to work at a place that gets to have our names on all kinds of those iconic venues."

Over the years, thousands of stadiums have been built across the country.

Proctor saying the reason for their great success is more than just a good product.

"Honestly being in Graham is what kept us at the top of our industry," said Proctor.  "We're here and we're focused on the product we're focused on the work that we do and we don't get distracted by trying to do things that we aren't great at."

One goal for the company is to give the community of Graham something they can be proud of.

"It originated in our shop in our warehouse and ended up on national television and they get to go sit on it on Saturdays and those kinds of things I think it makes citizens proud and we're definitely proud to be here," Proctor said.

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