A Sprained Ankle Develops Into Big Business for Gardner Man
A sprained ankle, more than 90 years ago, was a key event in the establishment of a long-time area business. The ankle in question belonged to Charles Cramer, a University of Kansas pharmacy student, and native of Gardner. In 1912 Cramer was sent home with the sprain. To speed his recovery, Cramer concocted a liniment with help from a fellow student. Cramer went on to a career as a pharmacist and continued to perfect the liniment. Cramer’s big break came in the 1920s when none other than Knute Rockne, football coach at Notre Dame, began ordering the liniment in quantity.
Success with the liniment produced the Cramer Chemical Company and other Cramer family members joined in the venture. From one small frame building, the Cramer plant grew to five large structures by 1962.
The Cramers made more than the original “Cramer’s Athletic Liniment.” Colorful names from what would become a sizable product line included: Butterfly Tablets, Atomic Balm, Tuf-Skin, Ank-L-Rap, Cinder Suds, and Strawberry Ointment. Production that began on a small scale grew to supply 2000 dealers around the U.S. and 34 foreign countries by 1962. More than 2000 sports-related products were part of the company’s stock by 1990.
The business did far more than sell their products. In 1951 the Cramers started the National Athletic Trainers Association. Some three dozen workshops for coaches and student trainers were held around the country in 1980. In 1932, Cramer began publishing “The First Aider.” Generations of athletic trainers, coaches and physical fitness professionals relied on the publication for its practical information on sports medicine. This resource continues to be produced by Cramer, now available via the company’s website: www.CramerSportsMed.com.
With origins in an accidental sprained ankle, Cramer Products became synonymous with sports medicine. Its products have long served the athletic community and continue to be the success behind a Gardner manufacturer billed in 2004 as the “Official Sports Medicine Supplier” of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
--ALBUM vol. 18, no 2 (spring 2005)