Daktronics and the Man Who Lit It Up [signed]

A remarkable story,.. It was just an idea and a dream by a pair of creative electrical engineering professors at South Dakota State University but Daktronics of Brookings, South Dakota, has grown to become a world leader in visual communications and entertainment systems. The company designs, manufactures, sells, and services these systems for customers throughout the United States and in nearly 100 foreign countries since its founding in 1968. It is recognized as a world leader in arena and stadium scoring systems and is listed on the NASDAQ. From its beginnings in a tiny, 250-square foot facility shared with a tire repair shop on a side street in Brookings, Daktronics, under the leadership of Dr. Aelred Kurtenbach and Dr. Duane Sander, today provides the most complete line of scoreboards and displays of any company in the industry. Annual sales approach the $400 million mark. From that shared little tire repair shop, the company now has over 2,800 employees working in a plant in Brookings of over 700,000 square feet, plus satellite production facilities in nearby Sioux Falls, SD, and Redwood Falls, MN, that together exceed 900,000 square feet.