A former NFL player turned entrepreneur, joined forces with NHL legend Chris Chelios to launch a booming tequila brand.
Jim Bob Morris, former safety for the Green Bay Packers and serial entrepreneur, and former Chicago Blackhawk Chelios joined forces to create El Bandido Yankee Tequila.
"Chris and I started enjoying tequila several years back, and I always admired his career. I was retiring from the sport of football and he was becoming a star in the 90s. And we started hanging out back in 2007," Morris said. "And we started drinking a lot of tequila together."
Morris explained one night around 2:30 a.m., the friends decided to make their very own tequila because they didn't like what was currently on the market. With Chelios's food science background, the pair knew they could make something that tasted great.
Morris said Chelio was the one to come up with the name from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
"There's this line in there after they rob a bank in Bolivia, the coronel comes out and he goes, 'El Bandidos Yanquis'" Morris remembers Chelios saying. "And there it was."
After Morris got out of football, he remembers living in Chicago doing real estate. Later he got into the family business in packaging, which lead him into the food business - specifically buying agave and making sweetener.
"I didn't know anything about tequila so we've been learning," Morris laughed.
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