Our History

A vision and website

Like most people who have played sports as a child, Aaron Phillips wanted to be a professional athlete. However, as he grew up, there were other interests that developed over time. While his passion for sports was still existent, he had been led to believe that his only path to working in sports was to become a professional athlete. As soon as he realized that there was no path to becoming a pro, Phillips would focus attention on making it in the world of business. That was until the night of January 1, 2007.

On New Year’s Day of 2007, Phillips watched the Fiesta Bowl between Oklahoma and Boise State. When Boise State won the game (43-42 in overtime), it would in that moment where he began to rediscover his desire to work in the sports industry. As he conducted research on and off for six years, Phillips had a vision of what a sports company can and should be. As he pitched his plan to his friends and family, they would encourage him to follow that path.

So, on July 12, 2013 Aaron Phillips founded Lone Gold Sports, as a website, in Fort Worth, TX. With Lone Gold established, Phillips would eventually expand Lone Gold’s presence into advertising and marketing. Initially, the idea was to make Lone Gold the official ranking company of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Phillips believed that the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) had the right model for a ranking system. The problem was with the formula and he had the solution. But as the BCS would be eliminated in 2014, everything changed and adjustments were going to have to be made.

"Failure is a success in progress"

With every setback, there is an opportunity to learn, grow, and execute. As long as you have a chance to make things right again, failure is more than just an end result, it is part of the experience of life. That has been the mantra Phillips has adopted since the very beginning. With the BCS setback in the rear view mirror, he decided to put that idea to practice.

Instead of abandoning the newly created ranking system, Phillips went ahead and expanded the ranking system. The first thing he did was to include fan voting into the system. After that, it was decided that the ranking system should be used for other sports leagues. Between 2014 and 2017, Lone Gold conducted their official rankings for 11 pro and amateur sports leagues.

At first, the newly formed Lone Gold Ranking System was working as it should. But in September 2019, Phillips and his supporters were not happy with the progress of the system. They felt that it was becoming too complicated to explain and maintain. After a much needed discussion, the Lone Gold Ranking System would be put on hiatus until a solution could be found. Within 3 months, the new and improved Lone Gold Ranking System would be overhauled and implemented over the next available season.

COVID-19 and Project 13

As the early returns on the new version of the Lone Gold Ranking System were looking positive, Lone Gold would yet again have to manage it's way through another crisis. On March 12, 2019 the COVID-19 pandemic would put the sports world on a 4 month hiatus and cause another round of shake-ups at Lone Gold. Due to that revelation, it would not be until the fall of 2021 that the Lone Gold Ranking System back to use. It was also during that time that Project 13 was created.

Project 13 would start off as a simple archiving project that quickly evolved into something more interactive for sports fans and our customers alike. Once the heavy lifting on Project 13 was completed in early 2021, Lone Gold had rediscovered its calling and the outlook was beginning to look bright. Thanks to the perseverance and dedication of the people at Lone Gold, the ranking system became a success and the beginning of other developments yet to come.

Early Expansion

Since the very beginning of Lone Gold, Phillips hoped that the sports site would form the town square environment that he envisioned. But as the sports world began to change, so did the desires of the people Phillips wanted to help. To provide better accommodations to his customers, Phillips decided to expand Lone Gold's platforms into 3 distinct websites.

The first thing that had to be done was to form the new Lone Gold corporate site from the sports site. So in September of 2019, Lone Gold Sports would be its own brand. One year later, The Gamer Experience Review would be added to the Lone Gold brand. To better serve our advertising needs, we developed Pathfinder in 2022.

Then and Now

As you can see, Lone Gold has come a long way since it started back in 2013. While we marvel at what has been accomplished, our story is still being written. Today, we are continuing that story by finding ways to bring communities and people together. Whether it involves advertising, volunteering, or even both, Lone Gold hopes to continue this legacy now, and in the future.