As the playoffs get underway, high school football teams across Texas are relying on everything they can to give them a competitive edge.
That doesn't always start with the players and coaches. Some would argue, the equipment is just as important, especially the footballs
"I wish you could develop a machine, where you just pull a giant lever and make them, " said Chris Calandro. "But it's not that easy."
Calandro started the Big Game Football Factory nearly 25 years ago.
His idea was simple. "Talk to the quarterbacks and decide what kind of leather they like, what kind of laces they like, which shape they like," he said.
Calandro called some of the biggest names in the sporting goods industry.
"They all told me 'no,'" said Calandro. "One of them sort of poked fun at me a little bit, like 'get out of here Sparky, we don't do that.'"
So Calandro did it himself. And now?
"Darn near 90 percent of all college footballs used on the field are made right here and the vast majority of the local high schools across the state, and across the metroplex, use footballs that are made right here," Calandro said.
He was told it would never work.
"I don't know where that guy is who poked fun at me, but I'm thinking about him everyday," Calandro said.
Calandro isn't just making footballs, he's living out a dream.
