Bringing Out the Best: Homan Succeeds in Basketball and Business
Written by Doug Goodnough
Tim Homan, ’08, saved his best for last.
During the first three years of his Hillsdale College men’s basketball career, the sharpshooting guard averaged around 12 points a game. After a head coaching change and a summer where he did not focus on basketball, Homan headed into his senior year unsure of his future on the court.
However, as the only senior on new Head Coach John Tharp’s first team, he thrived, earning first team all-conference honors and becoming one of the leading scorers in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. He remains the most accurate career three-point shooter in program history (making nearly 45 percent) and finished with more than 1,400 career points.
“He expected a lot out of you,” Homan said of Tharp, whom he credited for his senior year resurgence. “He brought a lot of energy. He is just one of those guys who genuinely cares.”
Homan said he adopted his former coach’s philosophy of team and energy when he started his business, Stealth Arms, in Saint Marys, Ohio, near his hometown.
“We build 1911 style firearms,” he said of his business, which is about 12 years old. “The 1911 originates from when John Browning designed it. It was in World War I and in World War II. It’s this iconic American pistol that’s been around for 100 years.”
However, Stealth Arms incorporated a little ingenuity into the 1911 that makes it unique in the market. Stealth combined the accuracy of the 1911 and the functionality of the Glock.
“We took that [Glock] magazine, which holds 17 rounds, and adapted it to the 1911,” Homan said of his new creation. “This is something that people talked about for years on forums, but nobody ever did it. And we did.”
The result was the Platypus, named after the mammal with a beaver tail and a duck bill. Homan said the term has stuck despite their initial doubts.
“For the life of us, we could not think of anything else,” Homan said of his custom 1911 pistol. “We went with it, and it turned out to be marketing genius.”
Sales for the distinctive American-made Platypus have been brisk. Homan said a key is a website that provides customization not found anywhere else.
“It is the very best gun-build website,” he said. “We built this website in-house. It allows for unparalleled customization options. There are literally millions of configurations the customer can choose from. And once you place the order, we build the gun. There is nothing else like this in the world.”
He said customer service is a top priority, and since his wife, Jess, recently left her teaching job and joined the company, it has gotten even better.
“It is the best thing that ever happened, except for the birth of our kids,” he said of his wife joining the business. “Now she helps at the shop every single day. It’s just great.”
Homan said his boyhood hobbies were firearms and airplanes. Now, his business allows him to combine those interests. He owns both a plane and a helicopter, which allows him to travel around the area to conduct business.
Stealth Arms has another important point of pride.
“We don’t do any sales or marketing at all,” Homan said. “We just put out a damn good product. And people come to us because they trust us, and we don’t let them down. They come back and they tell their friends.”
Homan, who is involved in coaching their three children (ages 13, 11, and 8) in youth athletics, said he appreciates his Hillsdale education now more than ever.
“I think it developed me,” said Homan, a speech communication major who entered Hillsdale with plans to become an airline pilot. “Hillsdale gave me a little confidence to do what I do now, which is lead. Now, I’m an advocate for freedom. I appreciate all the things that I learned.”
In fact, while recently developing a new product, he remembered the concept of price elasticity he learned during his economics class with Dr. Gary Wolfram. He also remains grateful to his former coach for the lessons he acquired on the court.
“It was always there for me to lead the league in scoring,” Homan said. “The other years I was there, I just didn’t know how good I was. [Coach Tharp] brought out the best in me.”
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s senior director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in November 2025