The Gold Satin San Francisco 49ers Jacket

Anniston, Alabama, has approximately the population of San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood.

It was once home to the world’s largest chair. It has a sports museum dedicated to a high school that closed in 1973.

And it’s where an upstart apparel company made millions hawking the San Francisco 49ers’ now-coveted gold satin jackets in the 1980s.

Started as a joint venture in 1972 between Willis “Pete” Chalk and Nasco Inc., one of the largest suppliers of school fundraising products in the country, Chalk Line originally tried to corner the high school apparel market before landing major licensing deals in the ’80s with the NBA, NASCAR and the NFL.

The company went from making $700,000 with just 35 employees in 1972 to doing $26 million with 500 employees and three manufacturing plants in 1984 — the year the company landed its first NFL outerwear licensing deal.

“That’s what the guys on the sideline wore,” Jim Thompson, Chalk Line’s former vice president of marketing, told the Anniston Star in 1985. “What we’re doing is taking the same jacket and letting the fans wear it.”