The Horner Flooring Company is a charter member of the Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association (MFMA) and in 2005 celebrates its 114th year as a quality manufacturer of northern hard maple sports flooring. 2005 also begin a new era at Horner as it expanded its product line to include synthetic sports flooring solutions. For over 114 years, the Horner name has exemplified the phrase Tradition of Excellence, providing affordable, top-quality flooring materials to schools, colleges, universities, sports organizations, Olympic and international athletic governing bodies and private clubs throughout the world.

Horner Flooring Company was started by William S. Horner in Reed City, Michigan in 1891. At that time, pine resources in the area had started to dwindle, so Horner decided to convert his existing pine planing mill to hardwood flooring manufacturing. In doing so, he became the first manufacturer of hardwood flooring -- prior to this development, hardwood flooring had been a custom-made product.. As the world's first mass-producer of hardwood flooring, Horner can truly be called The Oldest Name in Sports Flooring.

By 1914, hardwood resources in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan had also dwindled and it was increasingly apparent to William Horner that Michigan's densely forested Upper Peninsula would be a better location for the company. A new mill was constructed in Newberry, in the eastern Upper Peninsula, where Horner could draw on some of the highest quality hardwood resources available. The new mill was soon turning out flooring at the rate of 37 million board feet per year, making Horner the largest producer of hardwood flooring in the world. In 1931 Horner Flooring relocated from Newberry to its present location in Dollar Bay on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, amid vast stands of top-quality northern hardwoods.

The Tradition Today
Today, Horner's principal product is northern hard maple flooring, which is manufactured in a 60,000 square foot facility in Dollar Bay. The mill still draws on the same carefully-managed northern hardwood forests that attracted it to Michigan's Upper Peninsula -- forests that yield the finest northern hard maple available. Horner floors are sold around the world, and have become the national and international standard in competition basketball floors. But Horner is now more than just wood, it offers synthetic flooring options for other-than-wood flooring solutions for traditional indoor and outdoor athletic uses as well as non-traditional uses where non-slip, wear resistant installations are required.

The acceptance of the Pro-King Portable Basketball Floor by both the NBA and NCAA is the most visible testimony to Horner's reputation for quality. The Pro-King Portable has been used for over 20 years for the NBA All-Star Game and NCAA Final Four Championship Playoffs. The Pro-King is portable floor of choice of numerous professional and national teams around the world.

Horner's excellent reputation has been built by offering moderate cost, well-designed permanent systems that have been installed successfully over the past 75 years. It is the quality, value and longevity of these permanent systems that have helped Horner become the Oldest Name in Sports Flooring™. It is not uncommon to receive calls from owners of 60-70 year old facilities that still have beautiful gym floors. In fact, when a floor is finally removed after many years of service, booster clubs will often salvage the flooring to sell as souvenirs to raise funds for a future building program. It seems that the owners (often that means "The Taxpayers") find a sense of nostalgia along with the beauty and value a Horner basketball floor can provide.

Labor and Resources
Horner currently employs less than 100 people. Employee turnover is very low and, as a consequence, our employees tend to have very high skill levels. The average Horner craftsman is long-tenured, having one to two decades of experience. Most employees can perform nearly all of the jobs in the plant, which helps keep quality and grading standards extremely high.

Horner purchases freshly-sawn hard maple from suppliers within a 150-mile radius. Because Horner doesn't own its own forests, it is reliant upon its trading partners to exercise the best harvesting and sustained yield practices that are feasible. Much like Horner, these woodlands and sawmills are managed carefully to ensure that they can continue to produce top-quality hardwoods for generations to come.

With its entrance into the synthetic flooring market in 2005, Horner has partnered with the industry's most innovative synthetic sports flooring formulator in offering its other-than-wood solutions. Horner's synthetic flooring systems can be specified and and constructed with virtually unlimited composition options ranging from 100% virgin EPDM to nearly 100% recycled materials without sacrificing the high level of play and performance that Horner's customers have come to expect over the years.

The Tradition Tomorrow
The tradition continues today as Horner continually strives to provide the industry with innovative solutions to match today's demanding needs. Unsurpassed quality of both product and service is the cornerstone of Horner's foundation, and remains firmly in place to continue the Tradition of Excellence in this, the company's second century. We look forward to serving you.

 

Since 1983, every NBA All-Star game has been played on a Horner floor.

Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad, Los Angeles, 1984.