Inside look at how pieces of cowhide are transformed into NBA game balls
CHICAGO — The noise on the ground floor of the Horween Leather Co. is a deep, constant rumble pierced by the shrieks of blades inside machines that have split leather to within fractions of an inch for more than 120 years.
The smell is so pungent that first-time visitors to Chicago's last operating tannery are warned that the odor from the oils and other agents that turn hides into store-bound leather products — a dampness from tree bark used when hides are re-tanned; a wooly aroma from unrefined lanolin — might seep into their clothes.
None of it distracted Skip Horween from his search on an October morning.
The 65-year-old first explored this five-story brick building overlooking the Chicago River's North Branch as a child. In the 1970s, he returned after college to work alongside his grandfather and father as the family's fourth generation to guide the business. The decades have taught him that certain products are made from specific sections of specific hides; what is good for a Timberland boot is not for an NFL football.
It was why as he looked over his glasses and leaned over a waist-high stack of steer hides, still damp and tinted the blue of a clear fall day here by a preservative bath, Horween raised his voice to be heard upon seeing what he wanted.
In the middle of the former animal's back, near where the backbone used to press, and where the hide is most dense, Horween found a future NBA basketball.
The ball that is dunked by LeBron James and shot by Stephen Curry during an NBA practice or game are nothing like the rubberized versions bounced on playgrounds, or even those that are standard at the high school, collegiate and international levels, which are made from a synthetic fabric. This is eight panels of leather and, when brand new, slick to handle. It is ready for opening tip only after months of breaking in, as moisture from players' bodies and dirt from the courts are absorbed into the leather.
"Players will tell you that, 'The feel of the ball makes me feel like I made it,'" said Kevin Krysiak, the global product and research and development
