Pee Wee Football Teams Disappointed When Uniforms Are a No Show, Then Don't Fit

They had the footballs. They had the helmets. But by their first game day, members of three local teams were still looking for uniforms.

JB Hurd thought he was getting a great deal for the Waxahachie Youth Sports League. After all, the guy providing the uniforms, Marlon Hart, was a coach himself.

"He approached me and gave us a wonderful package deal of the home jersey, away jersey, pants and socks off for $85," said Hurd.

But three games into the season, the teams had nothing.

"We had to borrow jerseys from another team or something to put our boys and what ever we could get them in," said parent Hollie Choate.

The teams did eventually get jerseys. Hurd admits they look good, but when some team members tried them on, they didn't fit.

Hurd tried to put one on his son while we were there and the jersey couldn't fit over his shoulder pads.

The uniforms they waited so long for were too small and had no give.

After trying to contact Marlon Hart via phone and email, we found him at one of his games. Hart did not want to talk with us on camera but he said the teams didn't allow enough time for shipping from his vendor — in Pakistan.

Parents say they had no idea the uniforms were coming from out of the country.

"If I had known that that was the case I would've never ordered from them," said Hurd.

As for the sizing, Hart blamed it on parents, a claim Hurd disputes. "He came, he came out to our field and fitted all 63 of our kids," said Hurd.

Although Hurd and the other parents are still out what they paid, the teams now have jerseys that fit. Parent Hollie Choate and her husband bought new jerseys for all three teams from a company they found in Red Oak.

As for their refund, Marlon told us he's working with his bank to get his money back and if that happens, he will refund parents their money. Marlon blames the uniform troubles on the manufacturer in Pakistan.

Here are Deanna Dewberry's "Do's" for the football parent:

1. Before you order that custom jersey, ask where it's being designed and manufactured. Local businesses Dewberry talked to can usually do a teams' jersey in a week.
2. Ask about how long it will take and what the company's policy is if they fail to meet deadline. You might want to get all this in writing.
3. Consider buying equipment like pads and pants from youth sports resale shops to cut costs.

Deanna hosted a Facebook Q&A after this report aired, see below:

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