Shoes and Skates

CORALVILLE — The most interesting guy on the Iowa Heartlanders hockey team? It might be up for some debate, but here’s a vote for Elliott McDermott.

The case for him is below.

Let’s start with the actual hockey part. The defenseman from British Columbia played at three colleges: Colgate, UMass and RPI.

He enjoyed his time with Chuck Weber last season so much, he decided to follow him from RPI, where Weber was an assistant coach, to the Iowa Heartlanders of the ECHL this season to begin his professional career.

But it’s his story off the ice that’s so, so intriguing.

McDermott graduated from Massachusetts, majoring in neuroscience and minoring in economics. He earned his Master’s degree from RPI in business analytics.

A smart guy. An entrepreneurial guy. A married guy who has seen his wife only twice since July.

Grace McDermott is a member of the U.S. Army National Guard. She’s stationed in Africa, though McDermott can’t publicly say exactly what country.

“We met at UMass,” McDermott said. “She joined the Army National Guard her freshman year, and she signed a five or six-year contract. She's on the tail end, but got deployed this past summer, so she's been there for four or five months, and then we're into the back half (of that) now.”

  Buy Photo

McDermott saw Grace off across the world in July but then not again until November. The Heartlanders had about a week between games, and Weber told him it was OK for him to fly to Germany to see her, as she was attending a conference in the country.

“We try to Zoom every day, but it's tough,” Elliott McDermott said. “Like, just the time difference. She's nine hours ahead, and she's pretty busy with work and everything she's got on there. So try to find time at least once a day to talk on FaceTime, but, yeah, it’s not easy.”

Earlier this season, the Heartlanders used a tape of Grace McDermott singing the national anthem before one of its games. The promotion that night was a salute to military heroes.

Grace McDermott is an aspiring singer.

“That's actually her job outside of the military,” Elliott McDermott said. “She does gigs all around Boston, and she's been in school, so she's kind of been doing it on the side. But when she gets back from her deployment, she's looking to do that full time.

“She sings a little bit of everything: pop, country, a little bit of everything. She's written some of her own stuff, is working on a song right now that she hasn't released yet. She wants to fine tune it a little bit. But, yeah, it’s something she’s passionate about.”

And one of McDermott’s passions — outside of his wife and hockey, of course — is shoes. Specifically, custom painting sneakers.

He created a company called CustEm Kicks after his freshman year of college. It was in the middle of the COVID pandemic, and he had a job lined up that summer that fell through.

McDermott heard about something called the Summper Company program being offered in his hometown of Kingston, Ontario. Some funding, guidance and advice was provided for aspiring entrepreneurs who were picked, of which he was one.

“I wasn't sure how far it was gonna take me, but I've kind of kept it going,” he said. “People keep asking for shoes, so I keep making them.”

McDermott designs and paints custom sneakers, Nike Air Force 1s and Converse shoes being especially popular, he said.

“Basically someone will reach out to me and say they want, I don't know, a gift for their girlfriend for Christmas,” he said. “And then they'll sort of pick the shoe and they’ll have kind of an idea of what they want. I'll make up a mock-up design on my iPad, and then once we kind of decide on design, I'll order the shoe, paint it, and ship it to them, or give it to them wherever they are.”

Designs have included things like Pokemon. He did a pair for a friend celebrating Canada Day that he especially liked.

McDermott even reached out to Gonzaga University’s equipment head and asked if he could make anything for the school. Somewhat to his surprise, an order of about 20 came in for coaches in various sports.

  Buy Photo

“On average it takes me about three hours. That's the typical job (for one pair),” he said. “These ones (he recently did) are probably closer to five or six hours from start to finish. But basically, if you're interested in hearing about the process, you take out the laces, use acetone, or nail polish remover to remove the factory finish.

“Sometimes you have to sand it down as well, so that you make sure that the paint sticks. Then you paint them, usually four or five layers, and then you seal, coat them with, like a paint, but it's a clear-coat finish. It sort of seals the paint. And then I spray them with a waterproof finish, put the laces back in, and they're good to go. So it's a bit of a lengthy process.”

But one he loves.

“I've always been sort of an artist, and I feel like during my, I guess, throughout high school, I kind of got away from it,” he said. “I thought that this would be sort of an interesting opportunity to get back into the art side of things. I had seen on Instagram some videos of people doing it and people wearing them, and they’ve been popular. So I thought this is something I could try and went for it.”

None of his Heartlanders have asked him for anything yet, but he did a pair for RPI’s head of hockey operations a couple of years ago. Weber saw them, the high quality and for Mother’s Day bought his wife a pair in honor of the family’s recently deceased dog, Molson.

“They’re unbelievable. He is a talented artist,” Weber said. “He’s a cool story, just with a wife who is overseas in the military and all that stuff. Elliott is a very smart kid. From Colgate to UMass to RPI, I think a lot of our guys relied on him just to help them go through the Master’s program. I mean, he had a 4.0 (grade-point average).”

You can hit up McDermott on Instagram at CustEM Kicks, where you can check out his work and place an order. He charges $100, plus the cost of the shoes. He doesn’t advertise his business, doesn’t know how much longer he’ll keep it going.

He’s got plenty of other things on his plate, like his wife and his hockey career.

“It's all the kind of word-of-mouth right now,” he said. “Pretty much, yeah, just for Instagram, a lot of us, just like friends and friends of friends. The odd time I'll get someone random that reaches out on Instagram, but yeah, I've kind of kept it more of a side hustle.”

Comments: jeff.johnson@thegazette.com