Peoria is a Central Illinois community with a passion for sports. It is the home of the Peoria Chiefs, a Class A minor league baseball team that serves as a feeder team to the St. Louis Cardinals. Meantime, The Rivermen, Peoria’s professional hockey team, has been playing in Peoria since the 1982-1983 season, when the team was known as the Peoria Prancers of the International Hockey League. And then there is the Bradley Braves men’s basketball team, which has appeared in eight NCAA Tournaments, including two Final Fours.

Paul Layton has tapped into Peoria’s love for sports by launching a retail concept with a loyal following as owner of Underdog Sports & Fanfare. For Paul, Underdog represents far more than a store he owns. It is his personal sports cave and a place he created to help youngsters pursue their sports dreams without breaking the bank.

“This isn’t just another sporting goods store. It’s a mission wrapped in memorabilia and purpose,” said Paul with an enthusiastic smile. “Underdog Sports is three-fourths sporting goods, new and used, and one-fourth fanfare.”

The store often donates equipment to school districts and coaches to benefit children who might not otherwise have access to sports. “Without that, what are they (children) doing? They’re out on the streets and sometimes rudderless,” said Paul, emphasizing his commitment to providing opportunities for young people.

For Paul, sports are about more than just personal enjoyment. Sports represent an opportunity to improve the world.

“How many athletes are there in this community that aren’t playing sports, because they’re poor or disadvantaged?” Paul asked rhetorically. “If we can get them a pair of $10 cleats and it gets them onto the field, what a gift to the community to have somebody that otherwise would have been unknown come up through the ranks and play ball.”

Underdog Sports offers an impressive range of recycled sporting equipment. “We have softball, baseball, T-ball, golf and disc golf, soccer, football, lacrosse, hockey, volleyball. Anything that’s played in Central Illinois. We have it because our customers are our suppliers,” explained Paul as he walked up and down the aisles of his store.

He brings his hands-on know how of improving the lives of others to his operation. Customers sell used gear, which the store then meticulously prepares for resale.

“We take it all, wash every bit of it in disinfectant or bleach, detail it and get it back out onto the floor so it’s good safe equipment, explained Paul about how he runs his store. “If it needs repair, we repair it.”

Customer trust is paramount, according to Paul. “What we feel very firmly (about is) that customers know what they’re getting is trustworthy and safe, disinfected, cleaned and repaired,” added Paul. “Once you get out of here, it’s yours,” explained Paul. “But, if something happens to a shoe or a cleat drops, bring it back. We want you to have gear that works.”

The store’s attention to detail is remarkable. They even save and reuse seemingly insignificant parts. “Somebody will come in with a missing screw. We harvest those things instead of throwing them away. We’ll give them a screw, fix their helmet, and send them on their way,” added Paul about his commitment to his customers well after they’ve made a purchase.

More than X’s and O’s

Initially, Paul said he was focused on a charity sports concept when he opened this store, but struggled to define what to call it. He noted that lightning struck one day, when his family helped discover the perfect name and mission.

“Very early in 2018, my wife, son, and I were sitting around the table,” recalled Paul. “(We) were at the time ‘Charity Sports,’ because we were earning money to help kids. And we said ‘that doesn’t work’. And my wife said, ‘Underdog’. The second she said underdog, that was it! We’re serving underdogs. It’s a sports related team. We knew we had the name.”

“We came up with the idea for Underdog Sports, because we wanted to do something to help kids,” shared Paul. “Especially the violence in the schools, was tugging at our heartstrings and we thought, ‘how can we make a difference?’ We’re not politicians, but if we could make money and get more kids in sports by helping kids charities, then that would be something where we could make a difference. And we started this company to do that.”

Paul said the early days of Underdog were challenging, typical of any startup.

“We struggled, but gear kept coming in, and we kept filling our shelves,” recalled Paul about how he worked to gain traction for Underdog Sports & Fanfare. Then the COVID-19 pandemic presented another challenge. “We were shut down for a period of time as all sports were,” said Paul.

Adapting quickly to the pandemic, Underdog decided to move its equipment to the sidewalks and started noticing a surge in sales for outdoor sports gear, especially used golf clubs. Once the COVID crisis subsided, Paul was able to take Underdog Sports to whole other level by opening a second store in Peoria in 2022. He said he noticed a significant number of customers driving to his store in Springfield from Peoria, more than an hour away.

“We’ve not just stayed in business for six years, we survived COVID and we’ve grown tremendously,” said Paul with smile. “We’re now serving two metropolitan areas and everything in between. We have customers coming from Quincy to Champaign, from Litchfield down south to Pontiac up north.”

The fan cave

Walk through the doors at Underdog, and you immediately feel the energy of this unique store. Paul’s eyes light up when he describes the reactions of customers when they spot shelves packed with bright jerseys, popular clothing brands, trading cards, and other knickknacks of memorabilia tied to their favorite professional sports teams.

“You should see the little kids when they see our logos from over 300 teams,” exclaimed Paul. “They’re just freaking out!”

More than a store, Underdog Sports represents hope, community, and the love of sports that can lead to positive change in the lives of young people, which has been captured in a concise, memorable store slogan: ‘Everybody loves the underdog’ or as Paul likes to say, ‘Love the dog!’

From engineering to community impact

Sports has always been a part of Paul’s life. Whether he was playing or watching, Paul is truly a fan.

“I grew up playing football, wrestling, you name it I was getting into everything, even Whiffle Ball tournaments in the backyard,” recalled Paul about his childhood. His passion for sports continued through college at LSU (Louisiana State University), where he lived next to the football stadium. Paul’s love for sports extends to professional teams, with a particular loyalty to the New Orleans Saints (NFL), New Orleans Pelicans (NBA), St. Louis Cardinals (MLB), and St. Louis Blues (NHL).

Interestingly, retail was not on Paul’s radar when he was younger. In fact, his professional life started in the field of engineering.

“Before this, my whole life was in product development,” recalled Paul. “I started out in electrical engineering and ended up developing products like thermostats and agricultural electronics.”

Despite no retail experience before opening Underdog, Paul said he brings a unique set of skills from his training at Emerson Electric in product development.

“We were developing products by going into people’s homes, having conversations about their needs, and finding ways to quickly and efficiently test and improve those products,” said Paul.

All about community

Paul Layton wants everyone in Illinois to know that stores like his, small brick and mortar retailers, can serve communities in a way that big box stores cannot.

“We have disc golf pros that we sponsor. You don’t see that with big stores. We’re out at disc golf tournaments. It’s In our DNA,” explained Paul talking about his community involvement. “We’ve got collegiate and high school players here on our staff that support Peoria baseball really well, including running the Peoria Men’s League, with the Chiefs, with the Springfield Blues. All these interactions with our employees, the general public and the local sports scene are really important to us.”

Paul said he believes that anyone with a dream can succeed in retail. But he advises new business owners to be prudent and seek out free and knowledgeable resources.

“Learn about how to do it in a lean manner first before you jump in. Use some of the local resources with the Small Business Association, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and find out how you can succeed, because it’s so hard to get off the ground and stay to a budget,” explained Paul. “You’ve got to do that with really smart testing, and you’ve got to look out for customers and find out what their problems really are and how you’re going to solve them.”

It is patently obvious that Paul Layton loves sports and is a fan. But, he also knows his sports passion is much more than the competition. His sports passion is truly about improving the lives of others in his community.

“I love Underdog because it’s like my dream job. It’s honestly is not work, added Paul with a laugh. “I brought my fan cave to sell. Now it was hard to see a couple of pieces go, but I live in a fan cave every day of the week which is, fantastic. On top of that, the many customers that say thanks just makes it an easy thing to do for me.”

“It’s something that is rewarding every day to have the interaction with people, especially the ones that we get in a symbiotic relationship with,” explained Paul, “We’re not buying a pair of cleats from overseas, getting shipped in a container, having plastic wrapped around it. We’re buying them from you, our neighbor, and cleaning them and putting them out for reuse. We’re paying it forward.”