If youve tuned in to any NFLgame this season, youve probably seen the anti-fogging face-shields worn by many coachesmost notoriously Andy Reidhowever, I bet you didnt know a Mississippian invented the product.
Kyoung Lee, who lives and works in Brandon, came up with the idea, which is now widely known as Sunnie USAface shields, as COVID-19 was continuing to affect schools across the nation.
I was trying to create something for students and teachers. We cannot go back to school like [before], so I came up with Sunnie, Lee explained.
Once he reached perfectionwhat he describes as comfortable, fog-proof, and impossible to breakLee reached out to a few school districts but not without a roadblock.
I was hoping to supply to teachers first but, school systems, they have all this bidding stuff, and I couldnt compete with the Chinese stuff, he recalled. I was so disappointed.
That next Thursday night, Lee turned on a football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans, but the game itself wasnt what stuck out to the former art major.
Andy Reid, Kansas City head coach, his face shield was fogging up during the game, Lee recalled. I said, thats no big deal for me. I can take care of that, so I sent a face shield to him and 31 other NFL coaches.
Within days, he was getting calls from the offices of multiple organizations, including the Chiefs, Colts, and Washington.
“I got calls from several people, especially the head coach from the Washington Football Team,” Lee said. “Ron Rivera called me and said he was interested in my face shield and said it was very good.”
Now, five weeks into the season, and manyof the coaches across the league can be spotted using the Sunnie face shield, which costs around $17, according to the companys website.
So what happens to Sunnie once the coronavirus pandemic comes to its long-awaited conclusion?
Im working on the Sunnie part two, Lee happily shared. Its going to be sunglasses. After face shields, I want to go in the future business, so Sunnie is going to be a sunglasses business.
To learn more about Sunnie face shields, click here.
The post Mississippian’s protective face shields make it to NFL appeared first on News Mississippi.