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August M. Blepp started up a knitting
plant at 1186 E. 71st Street in 1907.
Armed with 4 knitting machines, he
manufactured Sweaters, cardigans and
similar goods. Shortly after, Blepp
founded the Blepp Knitting Co. located
at 6820 Superior Avenue. By 1915,
August served as president, and Sons
Theodore Blepp was appointed secretary,
Robert Blepp, superintendent and buyer.
The company produced bicycle hose, golf
vests, lumberman's socks, cardigans,
novelties, and sweater coats. As the
business expanded they supplied
uniforms for the Cleveland Browns of
the American League, and the Cleveland
Rosenblums of the American Basketball
League, in 1929.
Frank Coombs a basketball star who played for Hiram College in Ohio,
partnered with Robert and Theodore
Bleep in 1930, and incorporated the
Blepp-Coombs Sporting Goods Inc., in
Cuyahoga, Clevand, Ohio First location
was at 5324 Superior Avenue, then by
the 1950s, 4900 Euclid Avenue. The
store carried a full line of Sporting
goods, which included privately branded
Baseball gloves and bats.
The Blepp-Coombs "Equipment Of Champions" baseball bat was manufactured by
Joseph G. Kren of Syracuse, N.Y.
Established in 1913, the Kren Bat Co.
traces it's roots to a little shop in
the back of Joseph G. Kren's home in
Syracuse N.Y. Early on, Kren gained a
reputation among major league
ballplayers for turning out high grade
baseball bats for the likes of Babe
Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Honus Wagner, Frank
Frisch and Rogers Hornsby, just to name
a few.
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