ESCALADE INC

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Escalade maintains disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the Company’s Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to the Company’s management, including its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure based closely on the definition of “disclosure controls and procedures” in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e). In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognized that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, could provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives, and management necessarily was required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures.

The Company carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of the Company’s management, including the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based on the foregoing, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were not effective because of material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting (as described below in Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting). See also, “Risk Factors – Legal, Tax, Accounting and Regulatory Risks.”

Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Escalade’s management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting for the Company. Escalade’s internal control system was designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Internal control over financial reporting of the Company includes those policies and procedures that:

(1) pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions of the Company;

(2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company; and

(3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements.

All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations, including the possibility of human error or circumvention through collusion or improper overriding of controls. Therefore, even those internal control systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation. Further, because of changes in conditions, the effectiveness of internal control may vary over time.

The management of Escalade assessed the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023. In making its assessment of internal control over financial reporting, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) inInternal Control–* Integrated Framework* (published in 2013) and implemented a process to monitor and assess both the design and operating effectiveness of the Company’s internal control. A material weakness is a control deficiency, or combination of control deficiencies, that results in more than a remote likelihood that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected. In connection with the preparation of the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023, management identified the following material weaknesses in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting:

Based on this assessment, management believes that, as of December 31, 2023, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was not effective.

Our independent auditor, FORVIS LLP (“FORVIS”), a registered public accounting firm, is appointed by the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors. As a result of the material weaknesses described above, FORVIS has issued an adverse opinion on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, which appears in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this 2023 Form 10-K.

This annual report on Form 10-K includes an attestation report of the Company’s registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management’s report regarding internal control over financial reporting is subject to attestation by the Company’s registered public accounting firm pursuant to rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, this report by management regarding internal control over financial reporting is specifically not incorporated by reference into any other filing by the Company under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

Remediation Plan and Status

The Company’s management and the Company’s Audit Committee are committed to achieving and maintaining a strong internal control environment. The Company’s management, with the Audit Committee’s oversight, is actively engaged in the planning for, and implementation of, remediation efforts to address the above described material weaknesses.

In response to the material weaknesses discussed above, we plan to continue efforts already underway to remediate internal control over financial reporting, including the following:

Management and our Audit Committee will monitor these specific remedial measures and the effectiveness of our overall control environment. The identified material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting will only be considered remediated when the relevant controls have operated effectively for a sufficient period of time for management to conclude that they have been remediated. We can provide no assurance as to when the remediation of these material weaknesses will be completed to provide for an effective control environment.

/s/Walter P. Glazer, Jr., Chief Executive Officer * /s/ Stephen R. Wawrin, Chief Financial Officer*

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Management of the Company has evaluated, with the participation of the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, changes in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) during the fourth quarter of 2023. In connection with such evaluation, except for the material weaknesses described above, there have been no changes to the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred since the beginning of the Company’s fourth quarter of 2023 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.