Coming out of retirement in the summer of 2002, sports enthusiasts' Ken and Pat Gates began building College Sports Stuff. "Their goal was to supply sports fan products to college fans who lived away from their university. They looked around at sports stores throughout Arkansas and found that if you were a fan of a college not located in Arkansas there were no products available. Consequently if you lived in California or Michigan you couldn't find Razorback or Gator items." So Ken gave up fishing and Pat gave up some of her volunteer work and the two began building the web site on Labor Day weekend 2002. They went live on the web in October of 2002. Over time the store has added pro team items as well as unique gifts for wildlife fanciers. The company is constantly adding new items to the menu and continues to grow in sales volume