Willie Robertson, the leading man in the immensely popular reality series Duck Dynasty on A&E was in Chicago Thursday night to help promote the opening of the new Under Armour store on the Magnificent Mile. You may be wondering, as many of our readers have, what does Duck Dynasty have to do with sports and Under Armour?
It turns out there’s an extensive hunting section in the newly opened UA brand house and the sportswear maker has extensive commercial tie-ins to Duck Commander, a duck call business that is run by Robertson.
As CEO of the company, Robertson has a reported net worth of $20 million. He inherited the Duck Commander business from his Dad and turned the family business that his Dad built into a multi-million dollar financial empire; making himself and his family “reality stars” along the way.
I had an exclusive with Robertson that evening (podcast is below) We talked Duck Dynasty, Duck Commander (they have a college football bowl game now, the Duck Commander Independence Bowl, so we touched upon that a bit), and Chicago sports. It turns out Robertson is close friends with first baseman Adam LaRoche, who was signed by the Chicago White Sox from the Washington Nationals on November 24th for 2 years and $25 million. LaRoche and Robertson share a passion for hunting, and seemingly, facial hair as well.
Robertson said that he was making just his second visit to the Windy City, but now that’s he a newly minted White Sox fan, he’ll likely be visiting Chicago on more often. He also expressed his belief that Robin Ventura and the Sox will meet the high expectations Major League Baseball prognosticators have for the White Sox.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital. You can read Banks’ feature stories and op-eds in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and hear his regular guest spots on numerous sports talk radio stations all across the country.
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