About founder Doug Carter
My name is Doug Carter, and I am originally from McDonough, Georgia. I graduated from Union Grove High School where I played baseball and football. In 2005, I moved away to college in Maryville, Tn where I attended and played football for the Maryville College Fighting Scots. Maryville is still where my wife Britianny and I call home.
So how did I get started making custom mini helmets? My parents have owned their own sign business for over 42 years so I have always had an interest in having a small business. In 2005, my freshman year of college, my parents gave me a Maryville College mini helmet for Christmas. They ordered a blank helmet and since they own a sign business, they printed up decals to match my helmet at the college. I loved it and thought it was a great gift. So did all of my teammates.
Everyone was asking about them and wanting one. “Where did you get that” was a question I got all the time, and it was really awesome to be able to say “I made it myself”. Honestly, my dorm room was about the only way you could get your hands on one of these. After creating helmets for many of my teammates, I thought that this could be a pretty good side project. I really love sports, I love people, I enjoyed putting these helmets together and I especially love seeing their faces when they see their helmets for the first time. They always go crazy and think they are the coolest thing so it is a great feeling knowing that you have made them so happy. Teammates would want helmets done for their high schools back home, and next thing you know I am in business.
Today we produce thousands of mini helmets each year and supply hundreds of schools with their game decals spanning over 45 states and even a couple of countries. We love what we do and continue to grow each year and are blessed to call ourselves “Tennessee’s hometown decal company”.
About the name
How did I come up with the name? Well when I was in 10th grade, I tried out for football for the first time. I ONLY wanted to be a kicker or punter and probably weighed in the neighborhood of 115 pounds. Needless to say I was not very high on anyone’s respect or priority list, so it only makes sense that I would get the number I got.
The day we picked jersey numbers they asked what number I wanted. I nervously said “I would like to be #4 and if that is taken I will be #23” Those were my two baseball numbers during my high school baseball stint, so I wanted to keep one of them if I could. To my surprise both numbers were taken and they threw me a jersey that was about 5 times too big and was #97! I wasn’t a fan at first, but learned to embrace it and then learned to love it. It is the number I wore throughout high school and even all four years of college. I loved being a punter who wore #97. So 97 Sports Promotions it is!