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A BRUSH WITH GREATNESS: How NiteHawk Continues to Change the Sweeping Game
T
he global company and sweeping industry leader
generous spirit still remembered fondly by all who
known as NiteHawk came from creative yet humble
worked with him.
beginnings. The late inventor and manufacturer Jack
Day, Morris, and a small but committed team spent
Rodgers envisioned a lighter, more powerful sweeping
a few years building the business in California. “Back
machine, and in 1985 Rodgers patented the first
then, one of us would stay and paint what we had built
hydraulic sweeper. Over the next ten years, he worked
that day while others went out sweeping, or in my case,
tirelessly to refine the prototype, a machine that would
went to night school,” says John Day, now NiteHawk’s
make waves in the commercial service industry for many
Regional Sales Manager. “Especially in those Fresno
years to come.
summers, we would come back early in the morning
LOOKING BACK
to beat the heat and test out what we had painted the
In 1994, NiteHawk Sweepers, the company, was officially
night before. It’s crazy to think how far we’ve come from
formed, named for Rodgers’ original sweeper model.
those early days.”
Shortly thereafter, young entrepreneurs Tracy Day and
After a few years of manufacturing in Fresno, it became
Brad Morris purchased the patent for the hydraulic
clear to everyone that this fast-growing company
sweeper, taking over the challenge of bringing this
needed a new home. NiteHawk relocated to Seattle,
game-changing idea to the marketplace. Jack Rodgers
Washington in 1997, and though they’ve since outgrown
passed away in 2006, leaving behind not only a
a few more facilities, they are still proud to be based in
legacy of technological innovation, but of a warm and
the beautiful, and much cooler, Pacific Northwest.
1 4 NORTH AMERIC AN S WE E P E R MA R C H 2021
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