by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Just minutes after the University of Florida won its second men’s basketball title in a row back in early April, the presses at Vivid Images USA, Inc. were on full blast, printing T-shirts commemorating the Gators as the reigning national champs in both football and basketball — a first for an NCAA Division-I school.
Forget that it was after midnight. Vendors needed the shirts and Gator fans wanted them.
Thursday morning, Vivid owner Dan Tapper was still printing the exact same shirt. It didn’t matter that Florida State and Alabama were playing in a little over 48 hours a block away. Gator fans were still clamoring for the collectible shirt.
“I have never seen anything have legs like these Gator titles,” said Tapper. “Usually, when we print a championship shirt, they are hot for a week then cool down. Every week we are printing more. We have printed over 100,000.”
That number becomes even more remarkable when Tapper says he printed 40,000-45,000 shirts when the Gators won the school’s first ever football national title in 1996.
“I sell most of them to Football Fanatics and the Gator Bookstore in Gainesville,” said Tapper of the dual title shirts. “We ship everywhere.”
Tapper started Vivid 10 years ago this month. He started as a two-person business but has grown into a 10-person operation that fills a niche market both locally and across the nation. Vivid prints shirts for local restaurants such as Ragtime, Sliders, Caribbee Key and A1A Aleworks in St. Augustine. They also make specialty T-shirts like the one Tapper designed for Jaguars defensive tackle Marcus Stroud. Thursday, Tapper and part of his staff were getting ready to ship shirts to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team had just changed the way its number looks on its jerseys and other clothing and since Tapper is licensed to do the work, Vivid got the job.
September marks the 10th anniversary for the company that calls the Talleyrand area home. Before starting Vivid, Tapper was in business with Kevin Gay, the current president of Operation New Hope which oversees the Ready4Work initiative. Tapper and Gay owned Sportswear Express in Jacksonville Beach and Tapper spent about 10 years learning the ins and outs of the T-shirt promotional business.
“We did the first Jaguars printing job. That put us on the map. The company grew and they were going to merge with another company,” said Tapper, who is from Greenville, S.C. “I wanted no part of the merger. I consulted with (then Ragtime owner) Tom Morton and he convinced me to go out on my own.”
Ironically, it was a member of the Jaguars who helped Tapper find what he calls the perfect location for his business.
“Tom McManus helped me find this when he was with Phoenix Realty. He showed me two or three locations, but this was the first. It’s a beautiful location,” he said. “We can also park 75 cars here for events at the stadium. I can be in the locker room in five minutes.”
Tapper says thanks to the variety of clients he has across town — there are car dealerships and many others in addition to his restaurant and sports clients — it’s nearly impossible to go anywhere without seeing someone wearing his gear.
“When I go to concerts, events, football games, I am always looking for our stuff,” said Tapper. “I find it every time.”
Tapper came to Jacksonville 20 years ago. At the time he was working for a small company that had just landed a job for what was then World Championship Wrestling. At the same time, the buyer for Turner Broadcasting and Gay were working on a deal. Tapper became part of that deal.
“He told Kevin, ‘If you hire Dan, I’ll buy all my stuff from you.’ I had never heard of Jacksonville. I came down here and I loved it and I stayed,” said Tapper.
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of becoming a Floridian has been shedding his loyalties, particularly his affinity for the Clemson Tigers.
“They have done nothing for me since 1981,” said Tapper, an artist by nature, who has also learned to operate all of the machinery in the shop. Over time, Tapper has come to at least financially appreciate the Gators and he found the bandwagon several years ago. “I’m on it. One-hundred thousand shirts? Good Lord. How can I not be?”