Company History

Sports Transportation, LLC, SportsTran for short, was established in February of 2002 by Milton Tidwell, an Alabama native.

Prior to entering the golf cart and utility vehicle business, Mr. Tidwell was a long standing member of the trailer industry. He founded Tidwell Trailers in 1973, which later changed its name to Utility Trailer & Equipment Company ("Utility"). Utility maintained locations in Birmingham, Alabama; Dothan, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi and Nashville, Tennessee. Its primary focus was the sale of freight trailers and tanker trailers, but Utility also carried several lines of small open and enclosed utility trailers. Mr. Tidwell was an active member of the Alabama Trucking Association. As Mr. Tidwell's trailer business grew, it earned many awards and accolades including the Birmingham Business Journal's ranking one of the Largest Privately Held Corporations in Alabama.

Mr. Tidwell sold his interest in Utility in 2003, and just like any true entrepreneur he took on several new business ventures immediately upon retiring. He focused on one of his primary passions... the game of Golf. Mr. Tidwell purchased a stake in a local golf course and began his journey into the golf cart and utility vehicle industry. He immediately noticed the potential for success and profitability in this widely expanding market, and identified the highest quality vehicles on the market, manufactured by Club Car, Inc. After short negotiations, he entered into a dealer agreement in 2002, thus SportsTran was born. Mr. Tidwell applied the same principals to the golf car industry that were the driving factors for his success in the trailer business:

  • Sell Great Products The benefit of selling the best products on the market is that they sell themselves. Product quality is a key success factor that cannot be overlooked. Aligning with an established company like Club Car, with years of experience in making the top rated small wheeled golf carts and utility vehicle in the industry, has allowed SportsTran to build on the brand equity already well established by Club Car. Great products have the added benefit of greatly increasing customer satisfaction.
  • Provide Great Service It is easy to sell a customer a golf cart or utility vehicle; it is difficult to keep their business, and sell them another one. Currently there are thirty-two manufacturers of small wheeled golf and utility vehicles, which can be purchased at hundreds of locations across the state of Alabama. However, there are only a hand-full of locations that actually service the vehicles they sell. Providing quality service at a reasonable price, and turning vehicles around quickly, drives customers back time and time again.
  • Hire Great People Any business owner will agree that the hardest part about running a business is hiring, training and retaining good employees. Good employees provide great service, and are the backbone of the operation. Finding employees you can depend on, although difficult, is not impossible. We have strived to assemble a team to that provides the best service in the industry...day in and day out.
  • Think Outside the Box This was definitely Mr. Tidwell's motto! He was an inventor, and innovator and a dreamer. There are no problems, only opportunities and solutions. If a customer comes in with a problem, an idea or a particular application, it provides an opportunity for a sale, if you can offer a solution. This is what sets us apart from our completion...a willingness to try new things. We offer a wide variety of specialty products to meet specific needs and applications, and we are always willing to try new projects.
  • Do the Right Thing Honesty, integrity and loyalty are the main ingredients to a successful business venture. Do what you say you are going to do, even if it costs you money. Do not be afraid to admit when you are wrong, when you make a mistake or when you drop the ball, because everyone does it, but few people are brave enough to admit it. The reward is a happy customer. Happy customers are loyal customers, loyal customers come back, and if you are truly lucky, they bring a friend.

Shortly after SportsTran opened its doors in 2002, Mr. Tidwell purchased and renovated a building at the Airport exit in downtown Birmingham. The location was good, but the neighborhood needed some work. Mr. Tidwell began buying property around the building, which in 2003 became SportsTran's primary location. Later that year, SportsTran began carrying a new product line offered by Club Car...the XRT. The XRT is a rough terrain utility vehicle line focused on individual consumers and light industrial applications. The addition of the XRT Line was met with huge success, and opened up new markets and new opportunities.

Sadly, Mr. Tidwell passed away in November of 2004. SportsTran continued operations and has shown considerable growth while still maintaining Mr. Tidwell's values and vision. We are still family owned and operated.

In 2005, SportsTran widely expanded both our product offering and customer base with the addition of the Club Car Carryall Utility Vehicle line for Central Alabama. This opened up a wide variety of markets including military bases, colleges and universities, cities and municipalities, industrial manufacturing facilities and many others. In late 2005, we began employing outside sales representatives to address the needs of customers in these markets. To date, we are the only golf cart and utility vehicle dealer in Alabama that staffs outside sales representatives. Prior to this innovation, the golf cart and utility vehicle market in Alabama was comprised solely of retail business locations. A customer was required to take time to travel to a dealer's location, and select vehicles from the dealer's inventory. We streamlined the process by bringing the product information, pricing and even the product, by way of "Tow-and-Show", to our potential customers saving them time and money. Customers are able to select vehicles from our current inventory or ordering custom vehicle to meet their needs.

In 2006, after showing great success in both the private use and commercial and industrial applications, Club Car asked SportsTran to begin servicing the golf courses in North Alabama. With Club Car's ever expanding market share in SportsTran's exiting territory and the additional growth in the new territory SportsTran again had to think up an innovative way to approach this new challenge. An agreement was formed, and SportsTran launched its mobile service unit to provide on-site maintenance for over fifty golf courses in Central and North Alabama. The goal was to provide proactive service and warranty repairs, as opposed to the fix as fail method that was the industry standard. All Club Car courses, at their election, were eligible to receive one free service visit per month, by a trained technician, to repair downed vehicles. This method was met with an extremely positive response from the participating golf courses and was adopted as the new approach to golf service in Alabama.

In 2007, due to the large amount of growth and continued opportunity in the Alabama market, SportsTran undertook a project to expand our facility. Working hand-in-hand with the City of Birmingham and the surrounding neighborhood the expansion improved the appearance and storage capacity at our facility. We purchased additional property, and joined it with the property previously purchased by Mr. Tidwell. A new subdivision was created for the area surrounding our facility which bears the name, "The H. Milton Tidwell Industrial Park" in honor of the company's founder.

In 2008, SportsTran again expanded its territory to include North Alabama for the Club Car Carryall Utility Vehicle line. SportsTran's success with this product line was exemplified by the honor of being nominated as one of Club Car's Top 5 Commercial and Industrial Utility Vehicle Dealers. Brian Milster, SportsTran's Territory Sales Manager was awarded the honor of Club Cars #2 Commercial and Industrial Individual Sales Representative.