EXHIBIT 99.1


PRESS RELEASE

ESCALADE INC. COMPLETES TENDER OFFER FOR SCHLEICHER & CO. INTERNATIONAL AG

Evansville, Indiana, USA (April 17, 2003).
Escalade, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESCA) announced that Martin Yale Industries, Inc.
(Martin Yale), a wholly owned subsidiary of Escalade Inc., has successfully
completed its tender offer for Schleicher & Co. International AG (Schleicher).
Martin Yale now owns 97.2%, or 2,784,603 shares. The remaining minority shares
will be purchased under the "squeeze-out" provisions in German Corporate Law.

"This business combination has significant synergies that have immediate
benefits to both companies" stated Bill Reed, CEO and President of Escalade,
Inc. "Martin Yale gains instant access to the European market place through the
well developed sales channels of Schleicher, and Schleicher will increase its
market presence in both the United States and Europe through its association
with the strong brand strength of Martin Yale."

Schleicher, headquartered in Markdorf, Germany, is a world leader in the
manufacture and distribution of data shredders with subsidiaries in Austria,
Czech Republic, China, England, France, India and the USA. Schleicher products
are sold under the popular "intimus", " Taros", "Papermonster", and "Olympia"
trademarks and include small personal shredders, a complete range of office
shredders, high capacity industrial paper shredders, and high security shredders
used by governmental agencies around the world. Schleicher also offers Automatic
Paper Removal Systems for large office Buildings under the name of VacuShred.
For the nine months ended December 31, 2002, Schleicher reported sales of 32
million Euro, approximately 30 million US dollars. For more information on
Schleicher visit: www.schleicher.de

Martin Yale is a leading supplier of office products, business machines, and
graphic arts equipment sold under the "Martin Yale", "Premier", "Master", and
"Mead Hatcher" brand names. For more information on Martin Yale visit:
www.martinyale.com.

Escalade is a quality manufacturer and marketer of sporting goods and
office/graphic arts products sold worldwide by better resellers.

For more information on Escalade, Inc., please contact John R. Wilson, Vice
President and CFO at 812/467-1265 or C.W. (Bill) Reed, President and CEO at
260/563-0621.

For more Information on Schleicher please contact the Office of the President &
CEO, Dr. E. Leopold Dieck at +49 (0) 7544-60150