Was there a "real" J.C. Higgins?
Actually NO, since this was a trick question.
But Mike, you're close. There was a Sears book keeper named John Higgins, so they just used his first initial, made up the second initial, and used the last name and came up with J.C. Higgins.
That name was used until the early 60's when they began using another name on their sporting goods. It was some obscure baseball player from Boston, and I think his name was Ted Williams.