Firm Is Magic In Motion For Disabled

Jim Martinson founder Magic in Motion

Accomplishment: Jim Martinson had his legs blown off by a land mine in the Vietnam War but went on to build a company that is one of the world's most successful makers of sports chairs and skies for disabled people.

Martinson was a ski racer before the war. After a long recovery, back home in Puyallup, he began exercising in a wheelchair. He competed in wheelchair races locally but found the chair too heavy. By the time he won the Boston Marathon wheelchair race in 1981, he was contemplating building his own race chair. In 1983, he quit his job as a heating and air-conditioning sales manager to set up his company.

Starting in his garage, with little capital, he built race chairs and sold them. In the 1984 Olympic Games, he raced in the 1,500-meter race, the Olympic event for disabled athletes.

Martinson's Shadow product line now includes three-wheeled racing chairs, chairs for playing tennis and basketball, a mono ski, a water ski and a hand-peddled attachment that converts a wheelchair into a touring cycle.

With his company growing fast but always strapped for cash, Martinson sold a 51 percent interest to Ron Evezich three years ago. Evezich, owner of oil wells, a steel company and real estate, infused Magic with capital and developed operational controls and distribution networks. The company, which has doubled in size every year for several years, and has nearly 40 percent of its sales internationally.

No other company has such a complete array of sports products for disabled people, says Evezich, though Magic has several competitors for individual products. The company, now located in Kent, employs 18. Evezich and Martinson would not reveal exact revenues but said sales are in the millions of dollars.

Martinson, 44, continues developing and marketing products (he is working on a hand-peddled bicycle, so the disabled can race in triathlons,) while competing in sporting events. He is a top-ranked skier and hopes to ski in the 1992 winter Olympics in a demonstration race.

"Jim is our big edge," says Evezich, now chief executive. "He's one of those rare combinations of people. He uses it all, and he can take an idea and bring it to fruition in metal."

Quote: "When I got back from Vietnam, it was to a small community, where I had lots of good friends and a supportive mom and dad. It wasn't a lack of support that got me frustrated; it was a lack of equipment that would allow me to have freedom," Martinson says. "Now, when I look at these products, for the life of me, I can't believe it took a Vietnam War and people like myself to make it happen. We have airplanes and autos and all those things, but I can't believe they didn't make this stuff for disabled people."

Advice: "Research your product idea; the materials, the time . . . just really understand it. Go into it with 100 percent commitment, because it's going to take a couple years just to break even. Understand taxes, and get a good accountant. And don't try to do it all yourself."

Setback: "The hardest thing was trying to start the business without money. I did everything wrong. I went to banks, but they had no vision. I needed $70,000 to start the business, but they only gave me $15,000 and a line of credit I used in one hour," he says. "I was trying to do everything myself; do the projections, build the chairs. I was trying to run the business out of my house. I'd be out at 3 a.m. boxing the chairs for UPS. That was really hard. It led to a divorce from my wife."

Reported by Times South bureau reporter John H. Stevens.