By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

In partnership with the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Saturday's football game will celebrate the many alliances and contributions the agriculture industry has given to the University and the Central Illinois community.

The basic principles and skills that Don Thorp employed to transform him into an all-star football player at the University of Illinois have helped to shape his philosophy as a highly successful businessman.

In becoming Big Ten football's Most Valuable Player 35 years ago (1983), Thorp triumphantly combined the physical characteristics of size, strength, speed, quickness and durability. His Fighting Illini coaches also taught him that pregame preparation through film study, an ability to adapt to his opponent, and his natural instincts would pay additional dividends.

Thorp has practiced a similar strategy as the longtime President of his family business, Prinova, building his company's annual sales to more than $800 million. His company provides high-quality ingredients, flavors and value-added solutions to the global food, feed and wellness industries.

"If you look on the back of a can or a box or any food or beverage product, that little print is what we do," Thorp said.

"Prinova's tagline is This is how you win,"  Thorp said. "Many of our products involve sports nutrition. Using that phrase, we want to portray to our customers that 'This is how you win new business' and 'This is how to win in the marketplace.'"

When the Buffalo Grove High School star received a football scholarship to attend Illinois in 1980, his future plans didn't originally include his dad's (Richard) business, then called Greenfield Thorp Company.

A 1984 UI alum, Thorp earned a business finance degree.

"I like money," he chuckled, "so I wanted to know more about finance."

Thorp's dad would entertain his customers - Sara Lee and Quaker Oats, at the time - by bringing them to his son's Illini games and later to his NFL contests.

"Afterwards, I'd go to dinner with my dad and his customers," Thorp said. "By the time I retired from the game, joining the company made sense since I already knew the clients."

In 1989, he became the company's fourth employee. Thorp initially divided his skills between sales, customer service, warehousing and finances. Soon, the company began to evolve due to the new concepts and strategies he was bringing to the table.

"We got into distribution in 1992, changed the company's name to Premium Ingredients and, from there, things just kind of took off," Thorp said.

Don became the company's president in 1995 and, two years later, Premium Ingredients entered into the flavor industry. Global expansion followed in 2002 when the company acquired AMC Chemical in the United Kingdom. Three years later, it opened an in-house research and development applications laboratory at its headquarters in Carol Stream, Illinois. It also expanded its North American operation into Canada. And, in 2011, Premium Ingredients was renamed Prinova.

"Today, we have 915 employees, including, I'm happy to say, a bunch of University of Illinois alums," Thorp said. "We have operations on three different continents (North America, Europe and Asia) and a new corporate headquarters in Hanover Park. We now have the ability to supply our products around the world."

Thorp's company partners with numerous food and beverage industry giants, including General Mills, Kellogg's, Pepsi and Nestlé.

"We sell to all the top manufacturers, but we're also huge in sports nutrition," said Thorp. "We provide them with the amino acids and proteins, blend those things and flavor those things, and then we package them to top nutrition companies like GNC, Optimum Nutrition and Nutrabolt."

Each year, Prinova encounters new challenges.

"Today, most millennials want naturally healthy, non-organic products," Thorp said. "Not everything is made that way, so we're always looking for the new, innovative product. For example, the whey protein that all the athletes take nowadays is expanding into pea protein and rice protein. There's always something new."

With low unemployment, Thorp says that finding quality people is becoming more and more difficult.

"We want all of those Illinois grads to apply at Prinova," he says.

Thorp's family includes his wife, Kay, and three children. Twin sons Kevin and Michael both earned degrees from the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences and now are third-generation employees for Prinova.

Thorp, now 56, says his mind often flashes back to his teammates and Illinois's storybook season in 1983.

"Since most of us played as freshmen, sophomores and juniors, we knew it was just a matter of time before we won," he said. "During our 10-game winning streak in '83, it seemed like the fans would rush the field every time we won. It was a magical season and obviously a lot of fun for all of us football players."

Individually, UI's All-America defensive lineman bested a talented bevy of Big Ten superstars to win most outstanding player honors.

"To be named the Big Ten MVP was an awesome thing," he said. "You can't do it without your teammates, of course, but to be recognized as the best player in the Big Ten was a huge honor for me. I was very proud of that."