The QUICKCLEAN Story

As a kid growing up playing basketball, it bothered me that shoe manufacturers could never create a shoe that would adequately stop on the court. It seemed that only the kids with the most expensive and newest shoes were able to get traction. We used to ask the custodian to clean the floor. He would dutifully take his dry dust mop across that floor. When we got back on the floor, it was really no different. We were still slipping and sliding. Then I remember walking with the same shoes across my mother's kitchen floor. The difference was unbelievable. It was then that I realized the secret. She did much more than simply run a dust mop across that floor. She diligently damp mopped it twice a week. I remember asking the custodian why he didn't damp mop the gym floor every week. He kind of gave me this are you crazy kid look and walked away. It wasn't that he was lazy, because Mr. Johnson always was very proud of the condition of the school. It was a time issue. My mother's floor would have fit within the center circle on a basketball court.

One day before practice while I was warming up, I noticed they had torn out a section of the bleacher seats. A long flat piece of wood around ten foot in length was sitting up next to a wall. Without thinking, I ran to the locker room and wet down four towels, rung them out, and returned to the gym. I laid the towels out on the floor in a row and grabbed the piece of wood. To my surprise it fit perfectly on the towels. I asked them to help as I began to push the wood across the floor. It started across the floor with relative ease, but after a few seconds I could feel the resistance as the towels were rubbing the wood. With the help of my friends, we completed the floor in about five minutes. As we were finishing, the coach entered the gym. In horror, he yelled: "What are you doing, get that thing off the floor!?" As we quickly lifted up the piece of board, I noticed how dirty the towels had gotten. They were actually black from the dirt and grime that had been pulled off the floor. Coach also noticed. Especially as he walked across the floor and heard that sweet sound of tennis shoes squeaking.

After one practice, it was obvious that our makeshift cleaner was a success. It also became a ritual that three boys pushed that board across that floor before every practice. QUICKCLEAN was born.