The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
VVS alum leads Hotaling Imports
Larry Hotaling: VVS alum heads Sherrill-based Hotaling Imports
SHERRILL » Larry Hotaling has taken his experiences playing professional basketball all over the world and turned them into a successful guiding force to his own business, Hotaling Imports.
“I’ve taken the competitiveness of basketball and turned it froma physical form to build, maintain and run this company,” he said.
Not bad for a player on probably the most famous losing team in the history of the sport.
The Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Central School class of 1978 graduate moved to New York City after graduating from William Penn College in Iowa, pursuing both a career in finance and to follow his childhood dream of playing professional basketball. There, he developed the contacts to seek jobs overseas, as he has always been interested in traveling. Hotaling said in his lifetime he has played in 32 countries and lived in nine -- not just visiting as a tourist, but actually living as a resident in those places.
He played with the Washington Generals from 1988 to 1989, a world-famous team not just known for their own achievements … actually, quite the opposite. With the Generals, he traveled all over the world to lose games to the Harlem Globetrotters
hen asked if the Washing- ton Generals could have beaten the Globetrotters in a game, Hotaling simply smiled, keeping the magic alive.
In May 1989, both the General sand the Globetrotters were invited by Mother Teresa to visit her in Calcutta during. a tour of India. Hotaling recalled her as a “short, little woman,” and that he and the basketball players towered over her. He remembered fondly bending down to shake her hand, only to have Mother Teresa reach up, put her hand onhis forehead, and bless him.
Hotaling said he has been back to India four times since then with his family after developing an affection for the culture.
He played professional basketball for nine years. In 1990, while playing in Norway, Hotaling was planning on coming home to visit his parents Dorothy and Jim in Sherrill. A teammate asked him to bring back some sporting gear, as the American-made product was less expensive than what they could buy there.
“A light bulb went off,” Hotaling said of that inspiring moment. “I knew there would be opportunities in other countries for American goods.”
The following year, he met his Swedish wife-to-be Ann margaret while both of them were in Iceland. They stayed in touch after that meeting, and when he played in Australia she came for a visit. In October 1992, Hotaling got a call from his agent with an offer to play basketball in Sweden. He didn’t want to know particulars about the contract, he recalled, but simply which city it was in to see how close he would be to her.
After that move, Hotaling found himself making a two-hour commute each way for a 90-minute practice, but he was with Ann margaret. Today, they have two children, Ebba, 21, and Hanna, 19. Ebba is now running his Swedish company.
He played for three seasons in Sweden, and began to realize his basketball career would eventually come to an end. He
“I’ve taken the competitiveness of basketball and turned it froma physical form to build, maintain and run this company.”
— Larry Hotaling
started importing sporting goods into Sweden through his company Game Time USA Imports, and eventually branched off to include American-made toys aswell.
But by 1998 he was thinking of moving back to the United States, and set up Hotaling Imports here with the help of his parents, keeping their initial imported goods right in their garage. Within a fewyears, however, he decided to stay in Sweden rather than move his family here.
Now, Hotaling still resides in Sweden, making regular trips to the states for business. He crosses the Atlantic every 10 to 14 days, he said, finding the traveling a diversion from work.
“If I can sit comfortably, it is very relaxing to stare out the windows at the clouds and the ocean,” he said. “On the ground, I’m constantly doing business, checking emails and working long hours, but it is very much worth it.”
Now, the Sherrill-based Hotaling Imports, Inc, located in part of the old Oneida Ltd. factory building, is a wholesaler of high-quality European specialty toys. Each of those is chosen specifically because of its ability to inspire creative and imaginative playtime for kids of all ages. A main philosophy of Hotaling Imports is that the world has toomany electronics and toomany passive play options, and children should have toys that encourage three-dimensional play.
“Our objective is to bring quality educational toys to the specialty toy and gift markets around the United States,” Hotaling said. “Three- dimensional play is extremely important to a child’s development, and there is also the social aspect of promoting a social interaction. A creative imagination is so important for a child.”
They are the exclusive distributor for Papo, Djeco, BS Toys, Liontouch, and Play and Go in the United States.
Although the toy selling business has certainly changed in recent years, seeing a loss of many of their independent specialty toy outlets, Hotaling said they still have a solid core of specialty shops selling their imports. They have 85 independent sales representatives out in the field across the United States selling their products, Hotaling said.
Those orders are received at their Sherrill headquarters, where they also receive and ship the imported toys. There they currently employ 14 persons, and many of them have been with them for more than a decade.
“Without them, Hotaling Imports wouldn’t be as successful,” he said. “I am very fortunate to have the staff that I do.”
As a wholesaler, they don’t have any kind of retail sales available to the public at their location. The closest dealers they deliver to these days are as far away as Rochester and Albany. But Hotaling says he sees the toy business as coming around in a circle to where the electronic devices are no longer in vogue and creatively stimulating toys are back in demand.
He is also happy to be in a location that has a legacy of its own for local business.
“I’m really excited about the future,” Hotaling said. “For a business that started in my parents’ garage 20 years ago, it is nice to now be in the old Oneida Ltd. building right here in Sherrill. Running a small business is always challenging, but I amvery fortunate to have the people who have helped me along the way, including my parents, wife, daughters, and my staff here.”