Rich Maier, Inventor redux

Maier was still not through with innovating (he had founded Skymar in 1983) and started Advanced Recreational Design (ARD) in 1993, along with Gary Whalen, a friend from Rich’s college days in Jacksonville, FL.

ARD produced three new paddles and introduced a new ball that lasted much longer (six sets was not unusual) than the balls being sold at the time, primarily by Vittert. The ball had been developed with the aid of a manufacturer in Taiwan.

Source: Private communication with Rich Maier