In the sweltering Iowa summers of his youth, Chris Hungerford would spend hours alone on the basketball court, determined to improve his game. He’d jump rope until exhaustion, lift weights in solitude, and scour the classifieds for any training aid that might help him jump higher or shoot better.
“Back then, the most information you could find was maybe something in the back of a magazine,” Hungerford recalled from his Marshalltown office. “There were no private coaches, no training videos. You went to one three-day summer camp, and that was it.”
That memory of limited resources drove Hungerford to create HoopsKing, a store dedicated to supporting athletes with specialized training equipment. Starting in his basement with VHS training tapes, he would pull his children’s red wagon to the post office, loaded with orders. At week’s end, after paying for credit card processing and web hosting fees, there were often just a few dollars left in the account. But Hungerford, then a business education teacher, saw potential in combining his technology expertise with Amazon’s seller tools to grow his passion project into a career.
Initially selling basketball training videos and equipment from other companies, Hungerford gradually expanded HoopsKing’s offerings. Eight years into his Amazon journey, he took an online course about importing and discovered new possibilities. “That just unlocked the door to doing importing and branding of our own products with factories,” he said. The move to Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), where Amazon stores, packs, and ships products on behalf of sellers, helped him reach even more customers, and he began developing his own branded line of training equipment.
He started with about 10 to 20 products he knew sold well, items like weighted basketballs and basketballs with printed hand placements, what he calls “the built-in coach.” Today, HoopsKing offers more than 200 different products, with a recent focus on customization that has transformed Hungerford’s business model. “That’s really happened in just the last four years,” explained the two-time Technology Teacher of the Year. “We’ve made a huge switch to custom products.”
His company now offers personalized coaching boards, water coolers, and sweat mops, allowing schools and businesses to add their own logos and colors. The coaching boards and water coolers, in particular, have helped HoopsKing branch out beyond basketball, to hockey and beyond. “We love products like the water coolers because it’s not just for sports,” Hungerford said. “We get a lot of businesses who buy water coolers from us through our Amazon store.”
With each new Amazon seller tool, Hungerford discovers fresh opportunities to expand his small business, turning technological advances into customer solutions. His team has created some of the most sophisticated custom product setups available, helping grow annual revenue to nearly half a million dollars.
Hungerford still coaches high school basketball, testing products with his own teams, maintaining the same dedication that once drove him to shoot a thousand baskets a day. “We don’t ever really try to sell anything we don’t believe in,” he said. “We always believe in what we sell, and we try to have the best quality products.”
Ever the teacher, Hungerford said he is committed to showing the world how small-town businesses can thrive by adapting to new technologies while staying true to their local roots. “We’re always looking to stay ahead of the curve,” said Hungerford, who continues to explore new technologies like AI-generated product photography and 3D design tools to build his business.