CHATTANOOGA, Tenn — For some, the basketball court is considered hallowed ground.
It’s a place where dreams begin, legends are born, and mere milliseconds can determine heartbreak or triumph.
“Our facility is set up to where we've got 350,000 square feet. We house probably 50 basketball courts. It is by far the largest in the world,” said Praters Flooring CEO John Prater. “We house the floors for the Southeastern Conference, the ACC, CBS classic, WNBA and other conferences.”
Prater's facility holds up to nine courts at any given time and the company produces around 80 courts a year.
The journey to creating a basketball floor begins with a very specific type of wood.
“99% of all basketball courts in America come from the upper peninsula of Michigan and northern Wisconsin. It's northern hard maple,” Prater said.
Coming from forests that have been managed for well over a century, the northern hard maple produces a very light wood whose closed grain prevents splintering.
The trees are precisely cut and processed then shipped to Prater’s Flooring.
“When it comes to us, it is laid out, racked out. It's nailed up, then you come in with a sander and sand it all the way down smooth, two coats of seal, paint or pigment, whatever lines you want. Then put finish over the top, and that’s basically the process,” Prater said.
Prater graduated high school in 1979 in Chattanooga. Seeking new opportunities, he moved to Dallas after getting his diploma from the University of Tennessee in 1984.
“I was selling finishes, concrete finishes, wood finishes, and met some guys in Texas that did basketball courts, and it intrigued me,” Prater said.
Living in a city as large as Dallas, John yearned for the small-town life and convinced his wife to move back home to Chattanooga. When he returned, he found a muse from an unlikely place, the Tennessee Aquarium.
“It brought on innovation and entrepreneurship, and being in Chattanooga helped at that time. It helped me be an entrepreneur. It helped me be somebody that was trying to think outside of the box and do things that are different,” Prater said.
This newfound inspiration gave birth to Prater’s flooring.
The operation began humbly with only John and his wife providing maintenance coats out of his parents’ home, but the business quickly grew.
“We would sand down a gym floor. We had a blank canvas, and I was the first person to go to the schools and say, ‘What kind of message do you want to get to your community? What type of branding do you want to show with your community when they come into the schools?' I was saying that, but I really didn't even know how we would manage to pull it off,” Prater said.
To remedy this, John took it upon himself to learn graphic design, and his self-honed skills led him to become one of the premier floor makers in the country.
Prater’s clientele list grew, and his business evolved, eventually providing floors to some of the largest arenas in our area, the country and even the world.
“We’ve provided courts for Space Jam 2, Winning Time, Glory Road, Abbot Elementary, West Side Story for Steven Spielberg, you know, just amazing opportunities that we have been able to come up with to promote basketball. Along with Madison Square Garden, and the United Center, and Barclay and being able to go to Tokyo for the Olympics,” Prater said.
From the NBA, to Disney, to some customers he can’t even name publicly, John Prater and those who work for him continue to pride themselves on the work they do right here in East Tennessee.
“Whether it's a high-level program, or whether it's a middle school, there is pride associated with it. There are expectations associated with it, and they're spending money on a renovation. It's personal and so you want to go into every project to create a showplace,” Prater said.