The Back Story on Humminbird
Like many iconic American companies, fishing electronics manufacturer Humminbird has humble beginnings. Hatched in a modest Eufaula, Alabama, garage-like facility in 1971, Tom Mann and a handful of investors known as Allied Sports Company began modifying Heath Kits into the first Humminbird Depth Sounders.
Former Humminbird CEO Jim Balkcom recalls: “Around 1970 there was a Eufaula Hospital radiologist making changes to the electrical design of Heath Kit Depth Sounders to shield interference from the bigger outboards making their way onto bass boats. Tom Mann was impressed and they started placing foil over the Heath Kit logo and selling the modified units to a buddy here, a buddy there. Before they knew it, they were creating serious demand.”
Read the Full Story in The History of Humminbird Fish Finders.
