Sports Technology

For 50 years, Daktronics has been innovating and engineering new solutions for its customers. The company is a pioneer in the electronic scoreboard, programmable display system, and large-screen video display market and it continues to provide the highest quality products and custom-designed, integrated systems for customers around the world.

Daktronics, a contraction of Dakota and electronics, was founded in 1968 by two university professors, Dr Al Kurtenbach and Dr Duane Sander. Kurtenbach was determined to retain South Dakota’s best and brightest college graduates through the development and growth of high tech industry in the state. Moving forward to today, he achieved this goal as 30% of Daktronics employees (more than 2,500) began their careers as students while, in the five decades of business, more than 8,000 students have worked for the company.

In the beginning, the company initially planned to design and manufacture equipment for hospital and medical uses. One of the first stock holders suggested the company consider electronic voting systems. They set about manufacturing a prototype to present to the State of South Dakota, and later the State of Colorado. However, neither were seriously looking to purchase such a system.

Kurtenbach had a subscription to the Wall Street Journal and would browse through the week’s papers on Friday nights.

One Friday night, he happened to see an advertisement from the State of Utah, looking for a company to make and install an electronic voting system in its House of Representatives.

Kurtenbach recalls “I got ahold of them, went out and met with them and submitted a bid.

“When I met with them, I learned that they had actually gone out for bids two years prior, but had rejected all bids.

“So I said, ‘Was that a public bid opening?’ and they said it was, and I said, ‘I’d sure like to have a copy of those bids.’”

Kurtenbach added “that helped a lot with our bidding.”

Daktronics successfully secured the project, and would continue to find success in that market. Around that same time, Warren Williamson, the wrestling coach from South Dakota State University reached out to Kurtenbach after returning from a national tournament.

The two met, and Williamson described how the scoreboards used were inappropriate; they didn’t show the correct information and they blocked the view of the fans.

Daktronics designed the patented Matside® wrestling scoreboard with a truncated pyramid-style structure, and added advantage time so referees would no longer have to keep that time on a stopwatch.

From the beginning, Daktronics reinvented the way messages are shared with audiences in every situation, market, and location. They gathered talented individuals who shared their passion for developing useful, cutting-edge technology to make life easier for those who needed it. After 50 years, the same is still true as Daktronics employees carry that passion into their daily work to provide customers world-wide with the best display solutions available on the market.

During the 50th year, the people of Daktronics will be sharing their stories to give a glimpse of the Daktronics life with this world-wide company.

With thanks Christianne Beringer of Daktronics.

For more information and contact details click here to view Daktronics' entry in the Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory.

Images: MCG's Daktronics scorbeoard (top) and Dr. Al Kurtenbach and the first pro sports video display at Seattle's SAFECO Field in 1999 (below).

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