Dale graduated Rice University in 1959, having completed his basketball scholarship as an All Southwest Conference player, intending to go into coaching. But his natural business acumen attracted the attention of the corporate world and quickly catapulted him into management positions. At 23 years old he was promoted to general manager of the Houston company that hired him part-time while in college, where he oversaw 165 employees.
By the time he was 25, American Amicable Life Insurance tapped Dale for an assistant regional VP spot that covered 16 states. At 30 years old, married and with two children, Dale followed a growing entrepreneurial urge to work for himself. He moved from Texas to Florida to open his own insurance agency, where he worked from 1967 until 1988.
That’s when he stepped into his second career, joining his son Larry at Ball Products, Inc. Dale brought his extensive management and training experience to help grow BPI from a primarily tennis equipment company into a publicly traded entity with multiple divisions including fence screens and athletic field equipment. Today, Dale is still integrally involved in the day to do management of Ball Fabrics, sharing leadership jointly with both his sons, Larry and Jon.
