Under Armour founder Kevin Plank was honored at an event Wednesday and talked about his cash-strapped early days before receiving the inaugural Hall of Champions award from the Small Business Administration.

How broke was Plank?

He said he had little more than $2,000 in the account for the fledgling sports apparel company in about 1997, but had written $6,000 in checks. So he headed for a blackjack tournament in Atlantic City hoping to make up the difference.

“I took my $2,000 and I turned it into $6,000. And then like all entrepreneurs I got sucked in,” he said.

Plank said he played too long, lost the money and then encountered a toll bridge on the drive home.

“It's one thing to be broke. It's another thing to be the kind of broke where like you don't have enough money in your change drawer in your car to pay for the last toll booth going over the Delaware Memorial Bridge,” he said.

“What they do is they get out, they embarrass you, they take your driver's license, they look at your license plate,” Plank said. “They basically shame you into never wanting to feel that again.”

Plank said he soon received a $7,000 check for an order from Georgia Tech and was back in business — and more confident.

—?Jeff Barker