Aug 24, 2022 4 min read

On this night, four days before the start of the high school football regular season, Ed Dalton is making a mad dash to pick up some much-needed equipment: shoulder pads.

Why is the head coach of McGuffey High School’s football team still looking for equipment so close to the start of the season?

There is a shortage of equipment throughout the country and Dalton needs the shoulder pads for his younger kids. That makes it a priority.

“We take this seriously. We want to get our kids into the shoulder pads they should be wearing,” said Dalton. “I don’t know a coach around here that would put a kid out there who was not safe. We all take that seriously.”

This season, partly because of the supply chain, partly because of the effects of COVID-19 and partly because of the labor shortage, everything from helmets to shoulder pads, to school-embossed hoodies to cleats are either harder to get on order or not available at all.

“It runs all the way down to the youth program,” said Dalton. “I’ve never seen it like this before. I can remember one year when all the footballs deflated. There really are only two types of helmets: Schutt and Riddell.

“It’s not the company’s fault. These sales guys are good people. They’ll drive 100 miles to deliver you something.”

Tim Fogarty, owner of one of the major distribution companies, Century Sports, said the situation was bad last year but this year is worse in attempting to fill orders.

“As you know, everyone has a Help Wanted sign outside their window,” Fogarty said. “They can’t get enough people to come in and get these (goods) out the door.”

Fogarty said Century Sports was shorted approximately 350 helmets on order this year.

“We’re seeing a small amount come in daily,” he said. “But we’re seeing people scramble to get helmets or get helmets recertified.”

Fogarty said a helmet can be used for 10 years before it must be discarded. Many schools make percentage purchases, that is, maybe 10 to 15 percent of the previous year’s roster. So a small school such as Mapletown might purchase five helmets a year while bigger schools such as North Allegheny might need to replenish 10 to 15 per season.

Most schools allot money in their budget for equipment purchases but athletic directors have to wait until budgets are passed to place an order. Sometimes, that could be as late as early summer.

“We put in an order for Nike uniforms in February and we were lucky because early in March, Nike made the announcement it was not taking any more orders for football jerseys,” said Mapletown head coach George Messich. “I don’t really know what’s going on.”

Messich’s wife, Linda, is athletic director at Mapletown and George Messich said she has received inquiries from four or five schools seeking helmets to use.

“I’m having lots of trouble getting Adidas and Nike apparel, like sweats and hoodies,” said Canon-McMillan head football coach Mike Evans. “I didn’t even try to order coaches shoes. I hear footballs are going to be hard to come by but helmets are the hardest things to get.”

Evans said he was told his order for helmets won’t be filled until September.

“We had to borrow helmets from another school,” Evans said. “I’ve had schools call me wanting to borrow shoulder pads. It’s unfortunate because you have to order things way in advance. The biggest thing for me is not being able to get Nike or Adidas apparel we use.”

Another problem is price. The cost of a helmet has nearly doubled during the shortage.

“When the world shut down (because of COVID-19), there was no raw materials to make the product,” said Fogarty. “It’s a trickle-down effect. We ordered 300 pair of football shoes last year and did’t get them. We ordered 300 pair of football shoes for this year, 2022, and did not get them. We ordered 350 basketball shoes, cancelled.”

On the bright side, Fogarty doesn’t believe the supply problems will last past this year.

“It will get better,” he said.