Twenty-three months ago Jesse Spier was laid off from his job as a process engineer and promptly formed a club whose members play sports and drink beer five nights a week.

Mr. Spier is still out of work.

But he is employed, his official title being the founder of the Toledo Sport and Social Club. Since August, 2009, at least 1,000 area residents have walked through the club’s symbolic doors — there is no home, only gymnasiums, ball diamonds, and bars — to play one or more of 12 sports offered.

This is the life the 30-year-old Mr. Spier envisioned when he registered for a limited liability corporation two months before his layoff. Mr. Spier made a self-imposed deadline of August to decide whether to quit his job and proceed with his business venture.

"I had a decision to make," he said. "And then I didn’t." With his wife working a full-time engineering job, Mr. Spier used his severance pay to start the club.

Nineteen months after opening day, TSSC has gone from seven kickball teams to 13 and six touch football teams to 10. The club has drawn in several participants nearing 60 years old but most are from Mr. Spier’s targeted demographic of 21 to 40-year-olds. All players pay a registration fee of roughly $50 to $60 per league.

"People want to be active, want to have fun things to do," Mr. Spier said. "Although we’re geared toward sports, we’re really in the market of entertainment."

The Spiers live near Cleveland, and given that city’s population, Cleveland seems like a better place to start a social club than Toledo. Problem was, there were two in Cleveland already in operation, one where Mr. Spier met his wife, Erin, during a game of touch football. Incidentally, two couples currently engaged met through the Toledo social club.

The former Erin O’Shea doesn’t have much to do directly with her husband’s club, but as a native of Maumee she chipped in early on by providing some connections. As an added bonus, after a tiring game of soccer, or too much fun at the bar, Mr. Spier can crash at his in laws’ home.

Last week, Mr. Spier was in San Diego to attend a first-ever convention of social club founders. Representatives of 25 or more clubs spent a four-day weekend to discuss, among other things, a way to get national sponsorship. For instance, they could ask any number of beer companies or food chains to sponsor all social clubs, whether in Phoenix, Jacksonville, or Toledo.

Galen Beers, organizer of the San Diego get-together, said in an e-mail that based on his research, sport and social clubs are part of a $50 million industry.

Mr. Spier’s hope is that in five years he will have made enough money that it is feasible for him and his wife to move to the Toledo area. He said he has "been in the black" since November, 2009.

From August, 2009 to August, 2010, he said, about 3,500 people played at least one sport. But that figure includes repeat business. About 1,000 have registered on the club’s Web site, but Mr. Spier has not made registration mandatory.

In an effort to expand membership, Mr. Spier recently announced a new golf league at Bedford Hills, and soon may organize a canoe trip or a day at the beach.

One member is Samantha Scott, who played a role in the creation of the Toledo club. Ms. Scott, who works at the Toledo Chamber of Commerce as the communication coordinator for the social group EPIC, was one of the first people Mr. Spier approached with his idea. Mr. Spier recalled that Ms. Scott was enthralled by his designs for a club predicated on games and laughter.

"It’s kind of reliving the glory days," Ms. Scott said. "It’s fun having something to do during the week — be competitive and then you can just go hang out with your friends afterward."

Mr. Spier said he initially was met with resistance when he approached local establishments with a cross-promotional initiative. He asked for discounts on food and libations for club members after their games. In return, business might pick up on an otherwise slow Monday or Tuesday.

Some owners didn’t see the value, and others perhaps were unable to see the difference between Mr. Spier’s proposed league and one put on by a city recreational department. Mr. Spier said there are two differences.

When he exits the turnpike, he said, he can make it to any of several venues in seven minutes. He sees it as an important business lesson. A club member living in Maumee might have to travel 20 minutes to the University of Toledo to play volleyball but only a mile or two to a kickball game at the Lucas Country Recreation Center.

The second difference: He encourages individuals to join and has made social media available for free agents to find roster sports.

During the fact-gathering stage, Mr. Spier learned that if 2 percent of 21 to 40-year-olds in the area play two sports each, TSSC will grow to 8,000 members.

"That is where I’d say we’ve gotten to a greater level of success," Spier said.

Contact Ryan Autullo at:
rautullo@theblade.com
or 419-724-6160

First Published March 5, 2011, 7:12 p.m.