We hope you’ve all had a chance to read the open letter Ryan Harrington of True Temper wrote to you guys last week. There’s been some great back-and-forth in the comments section, and all of you have really surprised us at how interested you are in the technical details of shaft technology. If you found that a worthwhile experience, we’ve got some more great things in store for you. Read this whole thing, because it's good stuff...it's about time you met the people who design and manufacture your lacrosse shafts for you.
Ryan mentioned that True Temper was built in part upon its employees. Let’s take a closer look at the people behind the shafts at True Temper. These guys all work together every day to ensure that True Temper puts out a product that is strong, light and the leader in its class.
The first person to know at True Temper besides Ryan is Neal Haas, the Director of Composites Engineering. Neal comes to True Temper with top-level experience in missile and space shuttle engineering. Neal is a lax nut, as his son played at Rancho Bernardo in CA, and has done some amazing things with composites. Bottom line: if he can engineer a tin can to be launched into orbit or a missile to fly around the world, he can definitely make sure that your lax shaft doesn’t break or bend in your little, girly arms.
The next person you need to know is Max Thouin, the Lead Lacrosse Design Engineer. He’s in China for a year making sure that every shaft made over there is up to True Temper’s absurdly high quality standards. Max meets with the customer (lax brands) to talk about their needs and oversees the entire process, from initial design to final production. Max created the lightest and stiffest bicycle stem on the market while in school and was asked to present the product at a global cycling convention. In his free time, Max enjoys beach volleyball and skiing.
Joe is nicknamed the “silent assassin” around the office because executes with precision but doesn’t make a flashy show of it. He’s the head of the lacrosse program’s engineering and spends most of his time working on the CAD (computer-aided design) for composite and alloy products. If you’ve played lacrosse in the past 10 years, chances are you’ve used a shaft that Joe designed.
As Director of Alloy Engineering, you can pretty much imagine what Greg Cavill spends his days doing. Greg is a guru when it comes to engineering anything tubular out of steel. He has experience manufacturing everything from cycling and automotive parts to large-scale antenna construction for national defense. He has been with True Temper since 2004, and he has made it his mission to make sure that any metal True Temper shafts you play with will exceed all of your expectations.
Armado Herrera is known as the handsomest guy in the entire office. In his time off from being so good-looking, he is a full-time graphic designer at True Temper. He has 17 years of experience doing this stuff, and is the one who makes sure your shafts look cool and that the graphics don’t chip off prematurely. He prides himself on his paint and decal application—yes, there is someone at True Temper dedicated to making sure your shafts look legit. Seems like True Temper truly has every base covered, huh?
The guy who makes sure everything runs smoothly is a former baseball player named Nathan Hill. He played college ball at Ole Miss and Memphis. Seeing the folly in his ways, he turned down a career in the MLB (not really) to be in charge of the lacrosse division’s logistics. He’s tasked with making sure that the shafts are produced in the right places at the right times, and also that they’re delivered on time and to the right people. This is a huge task, but he’s why you’ll never have trouble getting your hands on some True Temper technology.
True Temper has shaft design and production down to a science. This is due largely to the incredibly experienced employees over there. Every single person mentioned in this article was at the top of their game when they came to True Temper—combine all of these forces together and you have some scary potential for producing the best shafts out there. The roles are clearly defined—composites director, alloys director, general director, graphics and logistics, and True Temper has gone above and beyond in hiring this much manpower. In other manufacturing companies, you may find that all of these roles are assumed by only two to three people.
These are a few of the key individuals at True Temper who make sure the lacrosse division runs smoothly. In total, they have 92 full-time employees
The last part of the “who” behind True Temper is YOU, the consumer. True Temper has been making some waves with the technology prototypes they’ve been sending out for kids to test over the past year. Do you want to become part of the True Temper team? Leave a comment, and who knows, Ryan may just send you something to try out.