Top of The League
Five years ago, Bob Coppinger, Eddie Kelley and Will Winship
realized their dream. The baseball-mad Boston Red Sox fans bought
their own print shop in the north of the city to turn their way of
business from a concept into reality. Kirkwood Printing is now one
of the most successful commercial print shops in the U.S.
It was just before midnight on October 27, 2004, and the
streets of Boston on the U. S. east coast were deserted. Virtually
everyone was sitting at home or in a bar with friends, their eyes
glued to the TV for the closing minutes of the game between the
Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. For Boston's baseball
fans, it was the game of all games - the final of the World Series
- and another chance for the Red Sox to put behind them the
legendary Curse of the Bambino that had been haunting them since
1920. Back then, the team's management had sold a certain George
Herman Ruth (see p. 10) to the New York Yankees. This turned out to
be one of the biggest mistakes in sporting history. Once with the
Yankees, "the Bambino" Babe Ruth showed his true genius, playing
his way into baseball's Hall of Fame and into the hearts of
Americans everywhere. Since then, the Yankees have won a total of
26 World Series titles. For the Red Sox and their fans, on the
other hand, the departure of Babe Ruth marked the start of a long,
desperate wait for success. The team won the World Series in 1918,
but did not win another title for 86 long years. For 31,459 days,
any slight glimmer of a chance ultimately ended in bitter
disappointment. That is until this game, on this night at precisely
20 minutes to midnight when three million fans whooped in triumph
as Red Sox player Keith Foulke pitched the decisive ball and led
his team to a 3-0 victory. Shortly afterwards, the empty streets of
Boston filled with throngs of people hugging one another, dancing
and celebrating. Tears were flowing once again, but this time they
were tears of joy.
Bob Coppinger, Eddie Kelley and Will Winship will not forget
this day either. Red Sox fans from an early age, they accompanied
their fathers and grandfathers to numerous home games at Boston's
Fenway Park. Like all the other long-suffering fans, they have shed
more than a few tears over the years. But there is another reason
for October 27, 2004 being such a special date for the three men.
This was the day they met at a lawyer's office to sign the contract
that made them the owners of Kirkwood Printing. It marked the
fulfillment of a longcherished dream for the three former sales
employees of a large print shop. "We had our own ideas about how
things should be run and had been looking for a suitable print shop
for some time. When the opportunity came, we quickly agreed to
grasp it," recalls Bob, the president. He is mainly in charge of
financial management at Kirkwood.
It was indeed an ideal opportunity. The 55,000 square feet
(5,109 sq. m) commercial print shop was located in Wilmington,
north of Boston, surrounded by neat detached homes on a street
winding its way down to the coast. Founded in the early 1970s,
Kirkwood Printing quickly benefited from the high-tech boom in New
England. In 2000, the company generated sales of more than 9
million U.S. dollars (6 m. euros). Then came the events of
September 11, 2001 - and recession followed. Like many others, the
company soon began to struggle and suffered a real downturn. It had
to lay off staff for the first time. Sales collapsed and a
management consultant brought in to get the print shop back on its
feet suggested selling the company - with Bob, Eddie and Will
waiting in the wings for such an opportunity.
The new print shop owners got down to work right at the
start. Their first task was to convince existing customers that the
change of management would not work to their disadvantage. There
was not much time available for this because the number of orders
increased rapidly. Eddie was able to convince one of his former
major customers to let Kirkwood print all future jobs - an initial
success, but not enough for the three new owners. They wanted
Kirkwood to grow - quickly - and make a name for itself far beyond
the borders of New England as one of the best print shops in the
United States.
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