Pro Athlete douses firehouse boredom, donating pickleball sets to KC’s 52 fire stations
August 6, 2026 | Nikki Overfelt Chifalu
Pro Athlete presents a pickleball set to a crew of Kansas City, Missouri, firefighters; courtesy photo
When Kansas City firefighters finally get a few moments to put down the hoses and shed their gear, said Andrew Dowis, they deserve the sports equipment needed to decompress and blow off some steam.
Andrew Dowis, Pro Athlete, 2022; courtesy photo
“They protect us and keep us all safe,” said Dowis, CEO of Pro Athlete, a specialized e-commerce sporting goods company and past KC Chamber Small Business of the Year winner. “We sell baseball bats, pickleball equipment, and baseball gloves. What can we do within our realm to help them? Pickleball seemed like the perfect thing.”
The Northland company — which launched its JustPaddles product line in 2021 just as the sport was gaining momentum in the metro — spent the early summer donating pickleball sets to each of the 52 fire stations in Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas.
“These men and women are going literally into the line of fire,” added Austin Hall, human resources manager for Pro Athlete. “They are literally going into situations and seeing things that you and I hope we never ever have to see. And they see it every day.”
“If I’m running payroll, taking a break to go play a game of pickleball or go for a walk, helps me,” he continued. “So I can only imagine doing what they do, getting a little break from their reality to sit back and have a little downtime we hope is enjoyable.”
Packs of JustPaddles pickleball sets sit ready for delivery by Pro Athlete; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Founded in a Parkville shopping center in 1987 by Wes and Judi Hedrick — and led today by their son Scott Hedrick, who serves as chairman and majority owner — Pro Athlete is an e-commerce giant, and a go-to retailer for baseball and softball bats and gloves, catcher’s gear, and pickleball paddles, powering brand verticals JustBats, JustGloves, Field General, and JustPaddles.
Austin Hall, Pro Athlete
Embracing stewardship is at the heart of the company, Dowis and Hall noted. Pro Athlete gives each employee a yearly allotment of $1,500 to donate to charities they are passionate about, plus the company supports other causes and events — one of a series of employee and community engagement strategies that earned it the KC Chamber’s top small business honor in 2020: the Mr. K Award.
A firefighter Dowis knows sparked the idea for the paddle donations, the CEO shared. While providing equipment to a pickleball tournament at her request, a light bulb went off, he recalled.
Kansas City firefighters pose after receiving a pickleball kit from Pro Athlete at their firehouse; courtesy photo
Hall and his team started reaching out to KCMO and KCK fire stations and Dowis made the first delivery to his friend’s fire house.
“They let me slide down the pole, which was awesome,” Dowis noted. “Since then, several employees have gone out and donated their time to go deliver the rest of the pickleball sets.”
The paddles seem to be a hit, Hall noted. One of the firefighters jokingly offered to take the Pro Athlete employees to their next stops in the fire truck, he said, while another said getting in shape with pickleball could help take their fitness to the next level.
“I want our employees to be proud to work for a company that does stuff like this,” added Dowis, who teased a coming collaboration with the KC Diamonds professional softball team.
Fund More Stories
This story was made possible by readers like you. Join them — make a one-time contribution or become a monthly member to sustain our work.
