Nation’s Best Sports (NBS) is a nationwide sporting goods buying group that was established in 1956 when Claude Manning and three friends — Joe Lipsey, E.J. “Buck” Buchanan, and Paul Self, all of whom owned war-surplus stores — decided to pool their purchases and create the first sporting goods buying group, the Southwest Buying Syndicate. NBS hosts six different buying markets annually that differ from industry trade shows because they are actual order writing and buying markets only open to member retail store owners, their buyers, and approved vendors. (less)