PPB December 2016

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with oil fromKuwait,” he says.
Beard received the Navy
Achievement Medal for his
success in consolidating the
existing reporting system so
intelligence specialists could get
information more quickly into
the Naval Tactical Data System.
“It was not combat and it’s
nothing dangerous like so many
veterans have gone through and
are still going through today.
By no means am I [a] hero. I
just did my part and that’s all.”
The Navy wanted Beard to
stay, but when his commitment
was up in 1989, Beard—who was
married to his wife, Joan, and
had a young son, Rory—decided
he wanted the opportunity to be
a hands‑on dad, so the family
settled in Portland (Maine). “I
wanted to be the Little League
coach and all that kind of stuff,”
he says. Their daughter Chelsey
was born shortly after he left the
Navy. The kids grew up playing
multiple sports, especially
hockey, and Beard became a
hockey dad. “I used to build
the hockey rink in the back
yard and all the neighborhood
kids would come over.”
One day his teenage son came
home from traveling with his
junior hockey team with a pair
of flip‑flops that had a bottle
opener built into the bottom of
them. “He was like, ‘Dad, check
these out, they are so cool but
don’t tell mom because they
cost $45!’” Beard was skeptical
of the bottle opener being on
the sole of the flip‑flop given
the potential for stepping in
something unpleasant and
then transferring it to the
top of your bottle. It got him
thinking about another, more
hygienic way to have a bottle
opener as part of a product.
“I came up with the original
Hat Trick bottle opener, which
attaches to the strap on the back of
a baseball cap. It has amagnet that
automatically sticks to the bottle
cap when in use. It keeps the bottle
cap from falling to the ground and
makes people think twice about
littering. It also had a can tab
opener on the back,” says Beard.
At the time Beard was amanager
at the post office, so inventions
were just a part‑time gig.
“Then I just started to add
products: I took that opener and
said, why not add it to a can and
bottle cooler? And why not add
it to a sunglass strap?” At the
time he was having the products
made in China. “It got to be a
real hassle for me, getting up in
the middle of the night to talk to
someone in China who didn’t
understand or speak English,
and I didn’t understand or
speak Chinese. And then I’d get
a shipment in and I just never
knew what I was going to find.
It was just a brutal experience.”
Ideas kept coming to him,
especially when he took up
playing golf. That’s when he
saw a need and created his 6 in
1 Divot Tool, which features a
bottle opener, can opener, cigar
holder, divot tool, club rest and
ball marker. He looked for two
and a half years all over New
England for a manufacturer, but
the tooling costs and minimums
were prohibitive. He started
manufacturing it in China but
wasn’t happy with the quality
and he really wanted to make
his product in the U.S. “It’s
not like I’m this big company
and I have people over on the
ground in China,” he says.
Beard persisted in looking for a
U.S. manufacturer and finally he
found the right facility to produce
the product at a reasonable cost.
“All of my golf accessories, which
is what I’m focusing on now,
are made in the USA,” he says.
The manufacturing facilities he
works with are in Rhode Island,
Connecticut and Massachusetts.
“I can control inventory so much
better. I know what I’m getting
because I visit these places
every few weeks. They know
my expectations. It’s worked
out extremely well,” he says.
“I get so many positive
responses and feedback about
the fact that my product is made
in the U.S.,” he adds. “Between
Canada and the U.S., there are
about 425,000 golf tournaments
per year. Almost every company,
it seems, has a golf outing. They
give out goodie bags at every golf
tournament. I get a lot of repeat
orders from distributors. They
initially start out wanting them
for a golf tournament and they
end up loving them so much
that they get them for another
outing or for a trade show or to
hand out at the office to their
customers and employees.”
His products are also in several
large corporations’ company
stores. “It’s great for me because
it’s repeat business,” he adds.
As Beard reflects on his
many careers, he says, “It’s all
been great. One thing leads
to another. That’s life.”
Julie Richie is associate
editor for PPB.
Hat Trick Openers is
a corporate sponsor
of Folds of Honor,
an organization that
raises money to
provide educational
scholarships to
children and
spouses of those
killed or disabled
while serving
the nation. The
organization’s
Patriot Golf Day
is a nationwide
fundraising
effort held at golf
courses every year
during Labor Day
week. For more
information, go to
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