CRESTLINE – A Crestline man is “scoring points” big-time with his latest jewelry creation – a pendant for NBA’s scoring king.
Bruce Workman, a master jeweler, recently designed a piece for LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers. A custom pickleball paddle pendant for the NBA star, who is also a fan of the paddleball sport and bought a professional pickleball team last September.
“It was a top priority for me,” said Workman, who has been making 10K gold and silver pickleball pendants for nearly two years now.
“I just sat here in the living room one night and looked at his profile and I sat here and etched it out on a piece of paper.”
The three-inch tall silver piece, framed with 27 four-millimeter stones, features a crown design in the center representing the king of basketball courts.
A 12-millimeter peridot which is a bezel set near the top right, replicates a pickleball ball, Workman said.
The pendant, in fact, is so large that it had to be cast in two pieces and then welded together, Workman said. “My challenge was I had to make a pickleball paddle pendant fit for a king. I’m glad I designed it as an easy setting and not with prongs, so it doesn’t snag.”
Workman, 66, said he was contacted anonymously last October to create the one-of-a-kind piece as a Christmas present for the former Cleveland Cavaliers player. He hand-delivered it in December to UNKNWN, a clothing store in downtown Akron owned by James and two other Akron natives.
Although semi-retired, Workman keeps busy fabricating pendants for pickleball fans, the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. In January, he shipped 27 pendants set with precious stones to Naples and Marco Island, Florida, Hawaii, and even France and Austria, he said.
Pickleball players are especially fond of his collection, which can be personalized on the back with tournament names and dates. The owner of LevelUp Pickleball – Lisa Dollard – wears a diamond version of the pendant, a gift from her husband, Workman said.
Workman has honed his craft primarily in Hawaii and in Florida, designing surfboard pendants in Honolulu and body jewelry in Naples under the name “B-Man.”
He also owned a jewelry store in Panama City Beach, Florida, for many years.
His wife, Lisa, is an avid pickleball player who regularly showcases her husband’s creations on the court and at pickleball camps. Other designs in his collection are available at pickleball-bling.com
“I’m just really optimistic,” Workman said of his latest endeavor. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. I mean, I’m at the ground floor. Let it ring, pickleball bling.”
