This month's featured hardshell is Kip Fulks, who spent two seasons in College Park in 1994-95 under legendary Coach Dick Edell. Fulks rose to prominence in the sports apparel world after co-founding Under Armour with Maryland football alum Kevin Plank, and is currently in the farming/brewery business.Â
What were those early days at Under Armour like getting the company started?
"My partner Kevin Plank. It was his idea and he was a football player at Maryland. We both were kind of in our fifth year, done playing and both trying to graduate. Jon Brothers introduced me to Kevin and said 'hey, you might want to help him out he's trying to do this thing' and I go meet him down in his little house in Georgetown in his grandmother's basement and he shows me these tight fitting t-shirts. He gives me a couple to try out and I happened to be playing for the Baltimore Thunder at the time. I tried a couple and gave a couple to some teammates and I was like 'This shirt's awesome'. So, I went back to him and was like 'how can I help man, I want to be in this with you'. That was the beginning of 21 years at Under Armour."
I'm not sure how involved you were with the lacrosse division, but what was it like getting that segment of the brand off the ground and seeing where it is today as the sponsor of the HS All-America games.
"I was involved in it in the early stages. It was just one of those things that was inherent to our heritage with me being a lacrosse player. Obviously, a ton of lacrosse players were wearing the stuff under their pads. But making that step into sticks and gloves and equipment and women's gear was a big step. It was a lot of trial and error in the early stages but we just stuck with it and got a little bit better every year with our cleats and our sticks and just everything. It's always about every year having something better than what you had last year. It's fun for me because I'm coaching club for HLC, my youngest son is seven, and seeing Under Armour stuff, it kind of tickles me."
You and your brother got into the hops farming business starting Big Truck Farms. Where did the inspiration for that business come from, and what are you looking forward to coming up with that enterprise?
"I am an outdoorsman. I have lived most of my life outside and I have a couple farms in Maryland –  I love Maryland. In 2012, Governor O'Malley passed this farm brew act that allows farmers to actually bypass a lot of legislation. They can take beer directly to restaurants and consumers. I own these farms and I was like 'man, I am in it'. I didn't know anything about craft beer, I didn't know anything about growing hops. Now we are one of the largest hops growers in Maryland. In May, we are shooting for Cinco De Mayo to open up the brewery. I like the craftsmanship. I tried it myself when I was at Under Armour and I like making things with my hands and figuring out problems. Apparel is quite different than craft beer but it has been fun to learn! Everyone is trying to help and it's really cool."
You played on some great teams in the mid-90s under head coach Dick Edell. What did you learn from him during your years with the Terps?
"I came in as a transfer and I think I remember shooting at practice one time I was outside the restraining line and Coach Edell took me into his office after practice. He let me have it: 'What do you think you are doing, you can't do that! If you are going to play on my team, you are going to do it my way!' He just ate into me and I loved him for it because he did it in such a humble way. It's how he cared about you. He wanted you to succeed and I could hear it in his voice. He was so mad at me because I was doing stuff that was not conducive of being on a team. I was playing like an individual. I love him to death. He was like a father to me like a lot of other guys felt that played with him. There are so many stories about him. He's amazing. He was an amazing human."
What did you love about being a Terp?
"It's cheesy to say, but we grinded it out. We weren't always as good as our record, but the team comradery was irreplaceable. It was literally a team of guys that were passionate about playing for coach. It's pretty simple man, that's Maryland lacrosse: You're not playing for yourself, you're playing for the team."
-Terps-
