User:John Golomb

John Charles Golomb is an American artist, craftsman, sporting goods industrial designer and expert authority and leading restorer of baseball gloves. Biography Golomb was raised in Port Washington, New York and is a graduate of Schreiber High School and Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting.

Golomb created JOHN GOLOMB, The Glove Doctor, formerly known as The Sports Doctor and Pastime Replicas, in 1987, a unique conservatory service and handcrafted USA Made sporting goods business.

Golomb’s manufacturing company was inspired by the absence of quality USA made gloves and mitts in the late twentieth century. For nearly 30 years he has made a line of custom high quality ball gloves and mitts, including America's only Ambidextrous Glove, and a collection of replica collectable gloves and mitts. Hundreds of makes and models have come through JOHN GOLOMB, The Glove Doctor, enabling him to compile more than a century of baseball glove and mitt know-how. Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada.

Golomb has been the subject of various print and media outlets including the New York Times, NBC, ESPN, MTV and Japanese television. He has been a public lecturer and exhibitor at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY and Curator and Designer of an interactive exhibit, A Glove Story: The History of the Baseball Glove at the Yogi Berra Musuem & Learning Center at Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ. Yogi even had John alter one of Jorge Posada’s gloves and stitch in the kind of fishnet-type webbing that enabled Yogi to hold on to more foul tips, which has been chronicled many times including in the book, Driving Mr. Yogi.

John began working in his family’s business Everlast Sporting Goods Manufacturing Company, founded by his grandfather, Jacob J. Golomb. Under the direction of his father Everlast CEO, David (Dan) L. Golomb, he trained as a leather cutter at the Bronx, New York factory. Within a short few years he was promoted to Product Designer. As personal designer to the champs, Golomb created custom equipment for Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes, Michael Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali and more. Collaborating with Coach Emerson Smith, Physical Education Professor at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD, Golomb created many new designs and patents for the Everlast boxing line that were important to advancing product safety. Chief among Golomb’s designs was the Everguard Boxing Glove in 1983 which led to universal use of gloves with attached thumbs preventing disabling eye injuries. The impetus for creating this new glove design came after a conversation with soon-to-be appointed, New York Boxing Commissioner and former heavyweight champion, Floyd Patterson who had a devastating eye trauma after being poked in the eye. Patterson spoke at his introductory press conference after being appointed Commissioner. He mentioned several new safety regulations and procedures that the Commission would immediately implement, among them was that “the boys at Everlast” were working on a thumbless glove that would make boxing even safer. The Everguard glove led to Sugar Ray Leonard, who also suffered from a detached retina, making a comeback in a bout against Kevin Howard and regaining his title. LINK TO PHOTO ARTICLE http://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/13/sports/sports-of-the-times-sugar-ray-s-rule-of-thumb.html

Golomb was also instrumental in the design of a lightweight super-shock-absorbing competition head guard that has become the global standard for both Olympic and amateur competition. Many of his original designs have been widely imitated and are the definitive, still in use to this day.

During the early 1980s, Golomb also freelanced as a courtroom artist for NBC and Fox 5 in New York City.