At the center of Under Armour’s origin story, the lead character tends to be Kevin Plank, the company’s charismatic CEO, who launched the company back in 1996 and made headlines this week when he quit President Trump’s manufacturing council.
But Under Armour was actually founded by three guys in their mid-twenties who had all spent the previous few years as collegiate athletes. When Plank had the idea to create a high performance undershirt for athletes, he brought on his close friend from prep school, Ryan Wood, who had played at Arizona State and the Dallas Cowboys, and Kip Fulks, who had played major league lacrosse.
