The Story Behind Top Flight

The Business Changed. The Values Didn’t.

The name Top Flight Financial & Insurance Services comes from more than 85 years of family history, entrepreneurship, craftsmanship and hard work.

My great-grandmother, Addie Case Burrell, was part of the Case cutlery family. Her father, Jean Case, served as president of Case Brothers, and her uncle, W.R. Case, founded the company now known as W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Company.

In 1940, Addie and my great-grandfather, Harold Burrell, founded Burrell Cutlery Company in Ellicottville, New York. They created a brand called Top Flight, producing straight razors with the Top Flight name and distinctive winged logo.

That name became part of our family for generations.

Growing Up in a Family Business

Burrell Cutlery remained in our family for four generations, and I grew up around the business. I worked there during high school, college and briefly afterward. It taught me the importance of hard work, pride in your work, quality and personal responsibility.

Eventually, I chose a different path, spending more than 20 years in college football coaching before entering financial services.

Although Burrell Cutlery eventually closed, my family’s connection to the craft continued. My father still makes knives today through his own business, Top Flight Early American Cutlery.

Carrying the Name Forward

When I built a business of my own, I wanted its name to mean something. I kept coming back to Top Flight.

I wasn’t making knives or straight razors. I was building something entirely different. But the principles I learned from my family still applied:

Hard work. Integrity. Craftsmanship. Pride in what carries your name. Building something meant to last.

Those values are just as important when helping people plan for their financial future as they were when my family built its business.

The Wings

One unmistakable connection between the Top Flight of 1940 and Top Flight Financial is the wings.

The original Top Flight brand featured wings, and I intentionally carried that element into our logo. While today’s Top Flight represents a different company, profession and generation, the wings connect our past with what we are building today.

A Different Kind of Legacy

Legacy doesn’t always mean following the exact path of those who came before you. Sometimes it means taking what they taught you and building something of your own.

My great-grandparents did that when they stepped away from the Case family tradition and founded Burrell Cutlery. My father continues that craftsmanship today.

I chose a different path, but I wanted the business I built to honor the people, history and principles that shaped me.

That’s why it’s called Top Flight Financial & Insurance Services.

The products changed.
The profession changed.
The generations changed.

The business changed - the values didn't!