Lastly

From Injury to Innovation

Jason Klein ’00 develops protective mask after taking a ball to the face in 2009

Jason Klein ’00 has tapped his strong passion for sports, relationship building, and service to others, to form Force3 Pro Gear, an international company that innovates sports safety gear and delivers uncompromised safety from head to toe.

What Klein wanted to achieve was clear to him after a challenging life experience. In 2009, while working as an umpire at home plate for a Triple-A baseball game in Durham, North Carolina, Klein took a foul ball to the mask, which resulted in a concussion that cut short his umpiring career.

“The mask I was wearing really hadn’t changed at all during my career,” explained Klein, noting that, at that time, the protective equipment was made of hollow steel or titanium, making it lightweight but not so helpful when absorbing the impact of a foul ball coming at you between 90 and 100 miles per hour.

Klein quickly turned a negative experience into a positive career choice, drafting designs for a newer, safer mask. It took roughly five years of research and design and talking to manufacturers before the Force3 Defender mask was developed.

The result is a mask that allows the transfer of energy when a baseball ricochets off the facial protection. This works via outer and inner components separated by three spring assemblies that help absorb and disperse a vast amount of the energy from a ball to the head. The product soon revolutionized the safety equipment industry and is worn by some of the biggest names in baseball.

“We received some feedback from catcher David Ross at the start of the design process. David was playing for the Boston Red Sox at the time, and his feedback made us go from four springs to three springs, and that really set us up for other catchers to take notice,” explained Klein.

Following Ross’ feedback, former Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves catcher Tyler Flowers started wearing the Force3 Defender in 2016, which led to White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal following as well in wearing the mask.

Word spread quickly in the MLB catchers’ fraternity, and in July 2021, the Force3 Defender was endorsed by the MLB Players Association. Klein’s innovative vision was also recently recognized by the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The Force3 Defender will have a permanent display in Cooperstown as acknowledgement for the first real major evolution to the face mask in over 100 years.

“When we started the company, we were developing improved safety equipment for umpires, such as socks, shin guards, and chest protectors,” explained Klein. “The mask idea didn’t come to me until I got hit. That’s when I decided I was going to take care of the evolution of the mask.”

Starting in baseball and softball, Force3 is now expanding into cricket, lacrosse, and hockey. As the company grows, Klein continues to look back at the fundamentals of business, leadership, and life that he learned at Springfield College.

“Springfield allowed me to find my own way. It put me on a path that allowed me to find the way that I wanted to be successful,” said Klein, who was a Sport Management major. “It started with an internship at ESPN, followed by being encouraged to attend the MLB Winterfest, and eventually landing a job with the Cleveland Indians.”

And as Klein watches his company grow, he hasn’t lost sight of its overall mission, rooted right from our Humanics philosophy, something Klein still carries with him to this day. To help ensure that everyone has access to the most protective equipment, Klein helped create the Force3 Defender Foundation. “It’s so important to make sure we can assist families,” added Klein. “We can’t be a safety company unless we make sure everyone has access.”