It is also unknown if John Higgins was a sportsman or was even interested in sports.Īn interesting note, John Higgins was not given a middle name at birth, the 'C' in J.C. He had been with the company just 10 years when an executive suggested using his name as the company's sporting goods brand. John Higgins was an Irish born employee at Sears who immigrated to Chicago in his teens and began working at the company's headquarters in 1898. The person did really exist and he did work for Sears, but he was not (as far as I could tell) involved in the development or marketing of Sporting Goods.

Higgins? Was he a real person or did someone make up the name? This was not unique, as other retailers like Montgomery Wards who used the brand name 'Western Field' and 'Hawthorn', Western Auto Supply who used the brand name 'Revalation' and JC Penney who used 'Foremost' on their firearms. Most were built for the company by major gun makers like Mossberg, High Standard, Winchester, Marlin and Savage. Higgins name was baseballs and baseball gloves, sold by the Western Sporting Goods Company in Chicago, two years later the trademark was used on basketballs and footballs.īy the 1940'a Sears was labeling every one of their sporting goods including fishing equipment, camping equipment and bicycles.Īfter WWII, Sears began using the J.C. In 1908 Sears decided to use a brand name other than Sears, Roebuck and Company on their outdoor related items.

Collectors of guns, bicycles and older folks who grew up before the 1970s will recognize the name J.C.

Jc higgins firearms