GROUND FLOOR: Former Iowa football great enters a new playing field

Lew Montgomery has been known as Sweet Lew since the seventh grade.

The childhood nickname followed Montgomery to Waterloo East High School, where his performance on the field earned him a spot in the IHSAA Football Hall of Fame, and then to the University of Iowa, where he played fullback for Coach Hayden Fry and helped the Hawkeyes to a berth in the 1991 Rose Bowl.

Now, Montgomery is building a brand around his old football moniker. He's doing it for a special person in his life, his son and youngest child.

Lucas, who now is 17, was diagnosed at age 8 with Sanfilippo Syndrome, also known as MPS, a rare degenerative disorder that affects his cognitive and skeletal functions and leaves him confined to a wheelchair. There is no known cure.

“When I was his age, I had a job,” Montgomery said. “He can't work, so I work for him.”

After college, Montgomery worked in a variety of human resources and management positions. He currently serves as the Director of Strategic Programs and Community Engagement for ACT in Iowa City.

He opened his first business, Gridiron Solutions, a human resources recruiting company, to provide supplemental income for things such as medication that is not covered by insurance and repairs and maintenance on a special lift van.

But the demands of Montgomery's full-time employment kept that business from becoming anything more than just a hobby, he said. He realized that he needed to find something different.

“It kind of morphed into this idea that I could leverage my being a former athlete at the University of Iowa with something unique,” he said.

In 2013, Montgomery was the keynote speaker at a trade show where he met a vendor selling duffel bags and backpacks made from the same material used to make footballs and other athletic balls. After doing some market research, Montgomery determined there was nothing like them available locally.

“I basically sold them out of the back of my car,” Montgomery said. “But I'm not a salesman. I just know a lot of people.”

In August 2014, Montgomery worked with a friend who is a web designer to develop a logo and website for the Sweet Lew Collection. Then, earlier this year, he partnered with a local licensing company to market the bags to colleges and universities. He currently is adding a line of active apparel bearing the Sweet Lew logo as well as opening online sales to the general public.

Montgomery said the ecommerce business sells itself and allows him to focus on his full-time job and his son's daily needs. Sales proceeds go into an account for Lucas.

While Montgomery is building a brand around his own nickname, he said the Sweet Lew logo was designed to symbolize Lucas and the struggles faced by kids with MPS.

“It represents determination, durability, toughness, fight - all the things Lucas means to me and to all the people he impacts.”

At a Glance