When Monomoy Regional High School parents and staff wanted to make last Spring’s graduation a special event without gathering students together in a crowded ceremony, they turned to Tim Lus. Soon, lawns and even highway shoulders, became crowded with brilliant blue and white tributes proclaiming “A Monomoy Senior Lives Here”. The idea to do similar flags, which began as a request from a single Barnstable High School parent as a fundraising project, soon spread from Sandwich to Wellfleet. It was a huge hit -- and could become a ritual that sticks for years since schools are again exploring ways to have modified on-site graduations this Spring.

Meet Tim Lus, proprietor of The FlagMan Sports Store, where the majority of business is now in custom banners, signs and displays for local businesses and organizations. “We work with multiple printers, so get creative! We can bring any flag or banner vision to fruition,” he says. Folks can also stop into a storefront at 1480 Route 28 in Centerville and pick up traditional USA and other country and state flags, military service banners, holiday flags, sports team flags and memorabilia, and any number of “fan cave” accessories. “Anything you can think of, we can do it,” Tim says.

Tim's devotion to kids and sports began early. He was a multi-sport athlete at Barnstable High School -- and was inducted into its Hall of Fame; he’s now president of the organization. Later, after earning his BS in marketing from UMass Dartmouth, he created Cape Youth Sports to mentor Cape kids. He's now executive director of the Cape Cod Warriors Basketball program and president of Cape Cod Flag Football for Kids.

Born and raised in Hyannis, Tim is also a member of the Cape Verdean community. He spoke with Amplify about his work.

Amplify: How did you get started with The Flagman Sportstore?

Tim Lus: I was between jobs and had a buddy who owned a flagpole company and worked with the prior owner. She was helping him with marketing his flagpole business and then got to the point where she wanted to sell. I’ve owned the business since 2014, and my buddy has since sold his flagpole business.

Amplify: How have you made the business your own?

Tim Lus: The retail shop is now a smaller part of the business. We now do all kinds of flags, and a lot of custom work for promotional products like banners, masks, lawn signs, hoodies, t-shirts, anything you can put a logo on. We’re also doing work for gyms, and state championship banners, and lots of lawn signs for local businesses and politicians. For residential work, there seems to be a rolling calendar of graduations, birthday parties, and more. We did thousands of the high school graduation signs last Spring — Dennis-Yarmouth High School did 400 or 500. They gave a sign to each kid.

Amplify: How has your business been affected by Covid?

Tim Lus: We initially saw an uptick as people tried to navigate Covid. Then for me, being home more helped us concentrate more on marketing through social media, and take advantage of everyone being at home.

Amplify: Where would you like to see your business in five years?

Tim Lus: I’d like to see us be a lot more well known locally — and to have more people of color be customers. We’re starting to do things with Boston’s public schools and more online work. I think the work that Amplify is doing is so great — getting the word out is appreciated by anyone with a small business, especially anyone of color.

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On the Web: https://www.flagmansportsstore.com/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theflagmanstore
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flagmansports/