The Whole Story

About the Inventor

In high school, Eznet inventor Tom Stewart enjoyed superhero, golden boy, most popular status.  After high school, between 1975-78, alcoholism and mental illness took control.  Stewart found himself reduced to town drunk, wino status, sharing a mattress under the Lorne Bridge or sleeping in the back of his truck, or just passing out on a park bench.  In 1979, a violent street beating shocked Tom into starting anew.

Stewart moved to Toronto, parked his truck in a downtown public lane way, and lived in it rent free for a year, washing in a park fountain and showering at a public washroom for vagrants.  He played his accordion on the streets.  He earned a dream job at Toronto Hydro while living in the truck.  When his Hydro partner died in his arms, Tom decided to pursue a dream.

Tom became a self-taught TV person.  He wrote and directed 'Craig's Story', which aired nationally on CTV's 'Wide World of Sports'.  Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr gave Tom a cameo.  Tom made a demo tape for Jim Carrey to take to Hollywood, which Global TV purchased.  Rolling Stones' keyboardist, Ian Stewart, secretly flew to Toronto to be in one of Tom's films, 'High Octaves', with Ronnie Hawkins.  Tom created a Leukemia Telethon with Ch. 4 Buffalo.  Also, he was a Studio Director for 'The New You' with Ms. Universe, Karen Baldwin.  He Created and was an Executive Producer of a prime time drama, 'No Place Like Home', of which Jim Bawden of the Toronto Star wrote, "Tom Stewart has created a Canadian gem."  Tom created films to help children develop reading skills, 'alphabet troupe' and 'Ready Set Read'.  He received a letter from the Prime Minister's wife commending him for helping children.

Stewart received a 'City of Brampton Mayor's Volunteer Award'.  He was a guest speaker at the Ivey Business School, Western University, and the Lassonde School of Engineering, York University.

Tom was selected to co-host a Discovery Channel TV series called 'Patent Bending', which beat the Myth Busters in ratings.

Stewart had recently signed a contract to write, direct and produce a 13-part television series based on his pilot, 'alphabet troupe', when he started buying soccer nets for his children.  They were awful.  He decided to make a good one for his daughters.  Six months of summer backyard experimenting, and it was done.  He took it to a practice, just to add a new wrinkle for the players.  The coach ordered two right there, 2 @ $199 each.  Then, his friend and their friends and on and on.  After a month of building in the backyard and deliveries, with the support of his high school sweetheart and saviour Lynne, Tom retired from TV, drove a fork truck for ten years, and concentrated on Eznet.  He had sold $30,000 of his backyard handmade model.  Next, he took his handmade model to a plastics extruder, had a mold made and plastic selected, then the same for the tubes, trying thinner and thicker walls until the exact tolerances were determined in real games.  Testing was done for three years before one production model was sold.  Testing was in real games, youth and adult, real practices, often in pressure situations like the Homeless World Cup's Team Training Net in Mexico, Norway, Wales, or in real school gym championship games.

Tom was awarded 4 patents for his corner joint design.

Eznet is proud of its customer base and Partnerships, past and present, including Allstate Insurance, Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, Toronto Police Services, London Catholic District School Board, Canadian Association of Futbol, Canadian Street Soccer Association, Homeless World Cup Foundation, adidas UK Football Program, and the University of Manitoba.

Financing?  'Dragon's Den' program created a $300,000.oo investment for 30%, from a viewer, dearest friend, a great man, Kent Dixon (Passed).  Thank you.