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Outgoing AEMA President Dan Siermine

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Dan Siermine, AEMA PresidentHelmet Tracker interviewed outgoing AEMA (Athletic Equipment Managers Association) President Dan Siermine recently to ask him about his term, accomplishments, career, and future.

Siermine, the Assistant Athletic Director in charge of Equipment at the Air Force Academy, oversees two assistants and a student staff of about two dozen student managers. The Falcons football team has more than 200 players.

Siermine began his equipment management career at his Catholic High School in Philadelphia after injuring a knee. He continued at the University of Pittsburg (“I knocked on the back door of the stadium and offered to help the football team.”) where he graduated with a degree in political science.

He then spent a year working with the legendary Equipment Manager Jon Falk at Michigan during Bo Schembechler’s final year as Wolverine Football Head Coach. Then it was on to Towson State and the University of Connecticut. When the Air Force job opened, he applied. “It intrigued me. It is, of course, in Colorado and a service academy. I got the job and have been here ever since. Twenty years.”

The questions and answers here are edited for clarity.

What has been accomplished during your terms as AEMA President?

“I felt I had a knack to bring people together and make them feel a part of something important. My goals included helping members feel a certain inclusion and belonging and feeling good about the association itself. That is a major accomplishment I will look back on.

“We brought more professionalism to the job of Equipment Manager—mainly by taking certification to another level.”

Tell us more about Certification.

“We are not even close to where we need to be with that. Our most unpopular decision was to require a four-year degree to take the certification exam. We will not make a guy doing the job for 20 years go back and get a degree, but people who were just starting in the profession—they need a degree.

“We also got the NFL in. The door was opening to them and we opened our arms to them. A majority of NFL teams right now are part of our association and that wasn’t true two years ago. These equipment managers are the top of the game and we need them to be in.”

Tell us about your career in the AEMA?

“I was a district director, then Associate Director in 2000. Then ran for the president and won. During my time we changed the by-laws to change the term from three years to four years. I ran again and now have served for eight years—the longest president.”

“Now it’s time to step away, let someone else come in.”

What needs to be done for the AEMA now?

“The biggest thing still is that we need to get further with certification. The thing is—it’s not required in many places. But you cannot be an athletic trainer without certification. You cannot be a strength coach without certification, but you can still work as an Equipment Manager at a university at the highest levels and not be certified.”

“We need to educate the universities, see it mandated state by state, or the NCAA could step in.”

“Also, we need full time staff. We’ve got to get to a place where we need someone running this organization who is not a full time equipment manager. We need marketing and fundraising.”

Dan relinquishes the reins of the AEMA Presidency at the Phoenix Convention next week. Tomorrow, we post our interview with incoming president Clifton Perry.

Meet Equipment Manager Nii Sowa-Doku

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If you are fortunate at the AEMA Convention in Phoenix next week, you’ll encounter Nii Sowa-Doku. Nii plans to take the AEMA Certification Exam and continue his journey as an Equipment Manager.

Equipment Manager Nii Sowa-Doku
Georgetown Equipment Manager Nii Sowa-Doku

And, what a journey!

At Helmet Tracker we love to meet young (and sometimes not-so-young) Equipment Managers beginning their careers, then learn about their journey and ask about their dreams. We are grateful to offer a scholarship each year to one such Equipment Manager lighten the cost of taking the Athletic Equipment Managers Association Certification Exam.

Geography Lesson

Better get out your map to follow Nii’s path. It begins in Ghana where his parents were born and grew up. Ghana is on the south coast of Africa, between Togo and Cote d’Ivoire, not quite in the inside “elbow” of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. They immigrated to the U.S.

“I grew up in the Kansas City area until I was 12-years-old,” Nii says. “Then I moved to the United Arab Emirates and got involved in soccer, basketball, track and field. I was the vice-president, then the president, of the Athletics Council at the International School.”

Ok, so the United Arab Emirates sits on the south shore of the Persian Gulf, near Dubai.

“I always loved and have been involved in sports. This has pushed me into this career path,” Nii says.

Kansas Basketball Equipment Manager

He returned to the states and enrolled at Kansas University, where he found Larry Hare, Assistant Athletic Director for Equipment. He asked for a job. Specifically, he wanted to work with the men’s soccer team.

Instead, he was initially sent to work at one of Basketball Coach Bill Self’s camps. “I worked some long nights. We worked with kids and prepared some student athletes who acted like kids!” Self and others must have been impressed. He was offered a job as a student manager with the basketball team. The KU Jayhawks basketball team with 15 Final Four appearances and three National Championships.

“I worked with the basketball team for two years and I learned a lot through the team there. I travelled on every trip and had responsibilities at practice and to make sure the chairs are out for time outs during the games.”

If you watch KU basketball on television, you may have seen Nii working just before or after a time-out.Equipment Manager Nii Sowa-Doku

In his final year at KU, Nii worked the equipment room for Olympic sports, softball, and tennis. He graduated with a degree in Sports Management, then looked for a job in an equipment room.

“I’ve always been interested in sports. Most people focus on the game itself, but I wanted to know how the athletes prepared, who prepared them, how the equipment was supplied, who made decisions about the equipment and the uniforms.”

Georgetown Hoya Equipment Manager

Georgetown University had a job with the women’s basketball team, volleyball, and women’s rowing. Nii jumped at the chance and was hired. That was nearly a year ago.

“At Georgetown we have two equipment rooms and there are three of us. We have 29 sports. I did help with football when I got here. The first home game of the season a student athlete came over and said he needed some air. I didn’t understand he was talking about his helmet. I didn’t know much about football, but now I can change out chin straps, facemasks, and do all sorts of maintenance on helmets.”

Sam Greil, Director of Equipment and Transportation at Georgetown Athletics, wrote Helmet Tracker to say Nii is one of the hardest workers he has ever worked with.

“He is always looking to learn and grow both as an individual and as an Equipment Manager,” wrote Sam, an AEMA Certified Equipment Manager himself. “Nii often goes beyond the call of duty to assist and work with teams outside his of those assigned to him by taking the opportunity to learn more about the Equipment needs of these teams. He is efficient, innovative and has a keen eye for detail, which are skills required to succeed in his position.”

Always Learning

As for Nii, he enjoys the work and enjoys the learning.

“I enjoy all the work that goes on behind the scenes. I have pride in that. I’m not a flashy person who needs to be known out front. I enjoy seeing the athletes enjoy that spotlight.”

Equipment Manager Nii Sowa-DokuHe told us his goals include working overseas.

“My main goal is to be an Equipment Manager for a professional soccer team.”

Nii is a Liverpool fan and follows the Reds in the Premier and Champions League.

“I would prefer to work in European soccer first. I speak French and Spanish. Then eventually I could come back to the US.”

“Living in so many varied places in the world has given me a different perspective on life and the ability to interact with people from different walks of life,” he said. “I know how to deal with coaches, players, and especially those student athletes from other countries.”

For now, though, he travels this weekend to Phoenix to attend the AEMA Convention and take the certification exam.

“I think it is very important to be certified. Some people don’t take our area of work seriously. For me, I think we need to show people that there is a lot going on in our world that people don’t know about. Equipment Managers at all levels need to learn about the comprehensive world of equipment. I learned so much from Larry (Hare, at KU). He holds a high standard for his student workers and many great Equipment Managers come from his equipment family tree.”

AEMA Exam Scholarship

Nii is a candidate for Helmet Tracker’s AEMA Certification Exam Scholarship.

Helmet Tracker reimburses one Equipment Manager for the cost of the exam and the study book–if they pass. If the selected equipment manager pays for the exam and book, they get reimbursed directly. If the selected scholarship winner is sponsored by a college or employer, will reimburse the institution.

A year ago, University of Nevada’s Michael Dryer won the scholarship. However, Damien Garnett, Assistant Athletic Director of Equipment at Nevada, asked Helmet Tracker to pass it on as the Wolfpack had paid for Michael’s exam. We did, and Eddie Hardin, now the Assistant to the Director of Equipment Operations at Tennessee State University, received the reimbursement. “I am grateful,” Eddie told us at the time. “It means a lot going from an intern to my first real job—having bills to pay!”

As for Nii, he continues to look for challenges.

“I think I am a hard work and I am willing to learn. I will take any projects.”

When he is not in the equipment room, Nii likes to explore by bike (“I ride to work”) and attends as many Nationals, Capitals, and Wizards games as possible.

 

Meet Equipment Manager Nick Bruner

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We keep finding the uniqueness of Equipment Managers and when we talked with Cornell Assistant Equipment Manager Nick Bruner, his was revealed immediately.

Nick was a member of his high school bowling team at Fairport High School in Rochester, New York.

Not to say football wasn’t a part of his life: he played both the Offensive and Defensive lines, and because his family held Buffalo Bills season tickets, attended his first NFL game when he was three-years-old.

Lacrosse Equipment Manager

“My dad coached football, so I’ve always been around the game,” he said. Nick played in the first ever Fairport High night game after the team won a playoff game in the last minute. Afterwards, he looked for a way to stay involved in sports and ended up becoming an equipment manager for his high school lacrosse team.

“I just wanted to do something in the Spring,” he said. “I knew a bunch of guys from football who were playing lacrosse and I knew the coach, so I ran books on game day and helped out doing other things.”

During the waning days of his senior year, he mentioned to a substitute teacher that he planned to attend Ithaca College. The sub had contacts, made a call, and got Nick a job in the equipment room.

“I needed an easy way to meet people,” Nick recalls. “It was the first football season since seventh grade I wasn’t playing.”

Ithaca Bombers

“I was always a kind of nerd about helmets and design, but it was at Ithaca that I began to develop a deeper interest in equipment,” he said. “I started doing it for another reason—something to do, works study.

“Then it grows on you.”

Nick, a Sports Management major, worked as an Equipment Manager for four years.

“I loved it. It was awesome,” he said. “Ithaca football is very tradition rich. I love that the guys loved the program. Half the coaching staff played football there and it was cool to be a part of that.”

“Of course, a lot of the guys on the team were not the same caliber as a D1 athlete. They were normal dudes that played DIII football. I had classes with them—ate lunch with them.”

Both his freshman and sophomore years, the Bombers won the Empire 8 Conference.

“Throughout the years I learned the ins and outs of the equipment room. I like working on the helmets.”

We asked Nick why he likes being an Equipment Manager.

“This job, it’s hard. But if you were here right now you’d see the big smile on my face,” he said, pausing. “I love it. I love being around the team. Look, there is no greater feeling than putting all the work in throughout the week and getting the team ready for Saturday and then getting the win. It’s very fulfilling. You can’t control how the team performs, but you can control a lot—some of the preparation for the game, the field, the practice, the uniforms.”

Cornell versus Syracuse

He pauses again, then reflects on a very recent experience, this one as a Cornell Assistant Equipment Manager.

“Two days ago, the lacrosse team. We were there. We were all one Cornell. We beat Syracuse.”

Nick landed the Cornell job just across town from Ithaca College. “They are basically a mile and a half from each other. It’s cool.”

He worked parts of several summers as an intern for the Buffalo Bills, then all eight home games in 2015—at the same time serving the Bombers on the gridiron on Saturdays. “Yes, there were some very late Saturday bus rides home to Ithaca, then I’d get my work done and head to Buffalo for the Bills game.”

Lucky Red Vest

In 2016, Nick worked as an Equipment Manage for all the Bill’s home games again. He remembers one game when Head Coach Rex Ryan demanded a lucky red vest five minutes before kickoff. The vest was quite a ways away from the stadium. Nick began running. From the sound of it, it was uphill to the closet were the vest awaited him, then uphill back to the stadium. He used the red vest as his security pass to get back into the game.

Cornell Assistant Equipment Manager Nick Bruner with Buffalo Bills Spencer Haws, Assistant Director of Equipment Operations, and Jeff Mazurek, Bills Director of Equipment Operations.
Cornell Assistant Equipment Manager Nick Bruner with Buffalo Bills Spencer Haws, Assistant Director of Equipment Operations, and Jeff Mazurek, Bills Director of Equipment Operations.

“I was an intern for the Bills for three and a half years and served three different head coaches,” Nick recalls.

He worked the USA International Bowl in Texas for two weeks in January of 2017, a few weeks after graduating Ithaca. Then, it was back to the Bills for another internship. When Cornell posted the job in November 2017, Nick jumped at the chance.

“This was a special opportunity for me. I knew the area. Ithaca is my second home—my home away from home.”

Cornell Big Red Sprint Football

He got the job and began working as a full-time Assistant Equipment Manager a few months ago. That means he helps with varsity football, baseball, lacrosse, and something called sprint football.

Nick explains that sprint football is a full contact football sport for men 178 pounds or less.

“There are just ten schools in the country that play it—mostly on the East Coast.” He mentions that Army and Navy play sprint football.

“Spring can get a little crazy with spring football, sprint football, lacrosse, and baseball all at the same time.”

Keith “Radar” McCarthy, the Head Equipment Manage for Baseball, Football, and Lacrosse at Cornell, wrote us to say Nick was an asset to the Big Red.

“Nick joined my staff about 5 or 6 months ago and has been a great asset to me team. He in young and full of energy. He works very hard and goes beyond what the job requires,” Radar wrote. “In his short time here, he has already earned the respect of our athletes and coaches.

“It’s been great. I love going to work,” Nick says. “It’s been cool to be somewhere I know.”

AEMA Certification

Though the football team uses two helmets, the lacrosse team used three this year. STX introduced a new helmet toward the end of the season and Cornell was one of the schools to sport them.

“That has been a cool learning experience. Our logo is a bear coming through our C. It took seven stickers to get each of those lacrosse helmets ready.”

It’s the life of an Equipment Manager. For Nick, a soon-to-be AEMA Certified Equipment Manager, a life he relishes.

“The certification brings expertise to the field,” he said. “Once you are certified, and keep up your CEUs, you are saying you have a certain level of experience. My Dad is a teacher, so I understand certification—it brings legitimacy to what you do professionally.

Cornell Assistant Equipment Manager Nick Bruner with
Keith “Radar” McCarthy, Head Equipment Manager for Baseball, Football and Men’s Lacrosse.

“Plus, for me, I look at big picture. I’m 22 and getting certified can only help me in the future.”

Nick is a candidate for Helmet Tracker's AEMA Certification Exam Scholarship. Helmet Tracker reimburses one Equipment Manager the cost of the exam and the study book–if they pass. Some equipment managers pay for the exam and book and they get reimbursed directly. If a winner is sponsored by a college or employer, will reimburse the institution.

A year ago, University of Nevada’s Michael Dryer won the scholarship. However, Damien Garnett, Assistant Athletic Director of Equipment at Nevada, asked Helmet Tracker to pass it on as the Wolfpack had paid for Michael’s exam. We did, and Eddie Hardin, now the Assistant to the Director of Equipment Operations at Tennessee State University, received the reimbursement.

““I am grateful,” Eddie told us at the time. “It means a lot going from an intern to my first real job—having bills to pay!”

35-year-old Goal

Nick hopes to one day return to the NFL, but he knows it will take sacrifice and some fortune to get there, and then to stay.

“I’m enjoying being at Cornell and can see staying here for quite a while. The NFL is on my radar, and I’ve always said that by the time I’m 35 I want to be the head guy somewhere.”

“For now, working with the college level guys—it’s fun and they are here to get a good education and play the sport they’ve loved their whole life.”

We asked Nick if he still finds his way into a bowling center to knock the pins down. Nope. When he gets time off, he looks for concerts, shows, and movies to attend—or he gets outside and hikes.

 

Meet Equipment Manager Andrew Mullins

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Andrew Mullins had a plan, and he worked his plan and it worked out according to that plan.

Mostly.

Equipment Manager not in the Plans

Andrew planned his post high school career like this: study to become a coach and teacher, attend Lamar for 2 ½ years, then transfer to Kansas State to graduate a Wildcat like his Dad and Grandpa.

It all worked according to plan—except he ended up volunteering in the equipment room at Lamar, then met with Al Cerbe at Kansas State and caught the bug.

“I realized I wanted to be an Equipment Manager. I loved being around the sport. I loved learning about the equipment. I loved being around the guys and the preparation and the games,” Andrew said.

When we talked with Andrew recently we were pleased to hear he was busy preparing 96 Lamar University football helmets for reconditioning by inputting them into our Helmet Tracker management system. Of course, using Helmet Tracker does not qualify Andrew, nor anyone else, for our AEMA Certification Exam Scholarship. It was just nice to hear. Andrew is our latest Scholarship candidate. More on that later.

Andrew grew up 20 minutes from Lamar University, where he now works as Head Equipment Manager. He played football, soccer, ran track, sang in the choir, and participated in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Whew.

Volunteer to Volunteer

When he graduated K-State 18 months ago it was with a degree in Social Sciences with an emphasis in history and political science. Then, he sat down with the new coaching staff at Lamar and talked with them. Lamar had never had a full time, head equipment manager but had relied on a coach to do what he could. The equipment room was in disarray.

“I volunteered all of last January through the first game in September and they hired me the day before the second game,” Andrew said.

So we asked him to tell us about that first game.

Well, what a story!

The Hurricane Game

It is now referred to at Lamar as “The Hurricane Game” and was played at North Texas. The Lamar team had to leave home two days early because of Hurricane Harvey bearing down on the Houston area. Andrew, still a volunteer at that time, had to find a box truck, and pack everything without knowing how long the team would be away from Beaumont.

“We were putting decals on helmets in the hotel,” he remembered, a bit of stress still in his voice.

The team lost the game, but were as concerned about home as anything—and they didn’t know when they would return nor what exactly they would find. Andrew, meanwhile, had to think a week ahead to the next game. North Texas, through the generosity of Mike Villa, Assistant Athletic Director Equipment Services, helped out and offered their laundry and other services to get ready.

“When we returned, the stadium was flooded, parts of campus were flooded, coaches needed to move out of their house, players had to move out of their apartments.

“We were hit hard,” Andrew said. “We were without water for four days. We bused to a high school to shower after practices.”

“It was a rough couple of months to start my career,” he says with a sigh and with pride.

Lamar to K-State and Back Again

Andrew readily admits that many had it worse than those at Lamar—but the hurricane and the flooding and the quick thinking and all the help from near and far are part of his story. His story will continue from there, but started much earlier.

“In high school I was into different helmet designs, and different cleats. I worked at Academy Sports and went through some helmet training for that job. It sparked an interest in me and I got interested in the technology of the equipment,” he said.

That got him into the equipment room for three years at Lamar as a student, then at K-State he connected with Al Cerbe who created an intern spot with him. When a student manager unfortunately got sick and had to miss a spate of practices, Andrew stepped in and earned a spot as a full time student manager.

“I was at every practice after that up to the bowl game. I finished finals and stayed for a week.” That gig lasted three years in Manhattan. “I ended up being the utility player. I was the oldest, had experience, and was the guy who would get things done when they needed to get done.

Al concurs.

“Andrew is a young man who put in a tremendous amount of work,” Al wrote us at Helmet Tracker. “Andrew went back to the Lamar Football Program in the Winter of 2017 after graduating from Kansas State University to assist them with their Equipment Department.”

Al continues to tell Andrews story.

“Lamar did not have a full-time nor part-time equipment position for their football team at that time. Andrew did not let this hold him back and still had his mind set on organizing and making the football equipment room a functioning operation for the team. So, he volunteered while substitute teaching to support himself financially.

“I believe in society today that for someone to volunteer for months for a position without a guarantee that he will have a job is remarkable.”

Remember the rest of the story? Hurricane Harvey. Floods. Scrambling.

Lamar Cardinals Football

Now, Andrew can focus on the 2018 season where he has 269 helmets—white and black matte, to prepare for the Cardinals.

“We are looking to try to find some more help in the equipment room,” he said. “There are no other Equipment Managers on campus and we have 15 sports!”

He is talking with the administration about establishing a student equipment manager program. Soon, we predict, Andrew Mullins will have his own Equipment Manager tree. And, at the AEMA Convention in Phoenix, he’s taking the AEMA Certification Exam.

“The exam, preparing for the exam, is helping me be a better equipment manager,” he said. “A lot of schools require you to have the certification. Lamar said it was preferred.”

Helmet Tracker's Scholarship reimburses one Equipment Manager the cost of the exam and the study book after they pass. https://helmettracker.com/aema-scholarship/. Some individuals pay for the exam and book and if that is the case, and a sponsored Equipment Manager wins the Helmet Tracker Scholarship, Helmet Tracker will reimburse the institution.

A year ago, University of Nevada’s Michael Dryer won the scholarship. However, Damien Garnett, Assistant Athletic Director of Equipment at Nevada, asked Helmet Tracker to pass it on as the Wolfpack had paid for Michael’s exam. We did, and Eddie Hardin, now the Assistant to the Director of Equipment Operations at Tennessee State University, received the reimbursement.

““I am grateful,” Eddie told us at the time. “It means a lot going from an intern to my first real job—having bills to pay!”

Andrew's free time is booked with the AEMA study book, for now. After he passes the test, Andrew will go back to enjoying golf, going to the beach, playing a little soccer, and preparing for the duck and deer season this fall. Meanwhile, there is a ton of organizing to do in the equipment room.

“Right now I am here for a while. Of course, if K-State calls, I would go back. I love Kansas, but my main goal now is to leave Lamar way better off than when I came here.”

Meet Equipment Manager Justin Clift

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“It never stops down there in the equipment room.”

This statement, by the University of Richmond Spiders’ Director of Equipment Operations Justin Clift, not only describes the life of an equipment manager, but sums up Justin’s love for the work. He just loves keeping busy. He loves athletics. He loves the equipment. He loves the preparation and the care and the excitement and the mundane and the required attention to detail.

Helmet Tracker AEMA Certification Exam Scholarship candidate Justin Clift, University of Richmond Director of Equipment Operations.
Justin Clift, University of Richmond Director of Equipment Operations.

And Justin has been doing this long enough to know.

AEMA Certification after years as an Equipment Manager

After starting out running errands for the visiting teams’ baseball players at Richmond’s Pro Park more than a decade ago, Justin moved up the baseball equipment manager ranks until he was running operations in Florida for the Atlanta Braves, then the AAA Syracuse Chiefs for the Washington Nationals (more on all that later).

He returned to Richmond nearly a year ago to rescue the equipment room from a dramatic situation.

“In 2017, Justin was hired at the last minute before the football season began,” wrote Ken Hart, retired Equipment Manager for the Spiders. Ken told us at Helmet Tracker that the equipment manager at the time had quit suddenly, leaving the team, well, ill-equipped. “Justin took the reins and with an attitude of servitude made great strides through the fall season toward reestablishing efficiency and professionalism in the equipment room.”

This is Justin. Now he seeks Certification through the Athletic Equipment Managers Association. He takes the exam at the AEMA Convention next month in Phoenix.

Justin is Helmet Tracker’s latest AEMA Certification Scholarship candidate. The Scholarship reimburses one Equipment Manager the cost of the exam and the study book after they pass.

AEMA Certification is required, or sometimes preferred, by many colleges and universities of their Equipment Managers. Some will pay for the exam and book and if that is the case, and a sponsored Equipment Manager wins the Helmet Tracker Scholarship, Helmet Tracker will reimburse the institution.

In 2017, University of Nevada’s Michael Dryer won the scholarship. However, Damien Garnett, Assistant Athletic Director of Equipment at Nevada, asked Helmet Tracker to pass it on as the Wolfpack had paid for Michael’s exam. We did, and Eddie Hardin, now the Assistant to the Director of Equipment Operations at Tennessee State University, received the reimbursement.

““I am grateful,” Eddie told us at the time. “It means a lot going from an intern to my first real job—having bills to pay!”

Now, Justin prepares for the certification exam.

“Certification is required at more and more places. I’m getting into the study book and seeing the specifics of some of the work I did in the past but didn’t know the standard for everything,” he said. “It’s important for the student athletes and the coaches to know I have studied and become certified at this high level. They can trust my experience and expertise.”

Baseball to Football

Justin’s unique journey to the world of a college equipment room took him through baseball.

His story begins behind home plate, as a back-up catcher with the Mills Godwin High School Eagles near Richmond. He was a member of the 1999 State Championship Team, but caught mostly in the bullpen. It was there, perhaps, he first learned that the entire team was part of success—on the field and off the field.

“I enjoyed it as much as everyone,” he said.

After high school graduation, Justin took that job at Pro Park, the home of the AA Flying Squirrels at the time.

“It was then I began to have a passion for working with the equipment and in the locker room,” he said. “Being behind the scenes and working more in a private setting with these guys who would be stars one day—knowing I helped them out doing their jobs – that they didn’t have to worry about anything besides what was going on between the lines, that’s what I began to really enjoy.”

When he arrived at Radford University, he headed to the office of the baseball coach and offered his services. Soon, he was wearing a Highlanders uniform, managing the equipment, doing laundry, and sometimes coaching first base.

“I enjoyed it. Radford was a medium-sized, D1 campus and I felt like I could be successful there,” he said. “I was, and had a great time.”

He continued working at Pro Park during summers and after graduating Radford, accepted a graduate assistant coaching slot at Virginia with the baseball team and in the Sports Leadership Program. He stayed with the team for two years as a volunteer coach after completing the program, then began work with the AAA Richmond Braves, who took over Pro Park and renamed it The Diamond.

“After two years doing that, the Braves offered me the Head Club House Manager position for the Braves at The Diamond and I was there for the 2007 season taking care of the laundry, feeding the players—doing everything that had to do with the team behind the scenes.”

Justin was dedicated, and good at it—as good as the Triple A team was on the field. The team won the league that year and Justin was offered the Head Minor League Equipment Manager job for the Braves’ Florida operations. That meant taking care of day-to-day needs during Spring Training then overseeing operations throughout the year.

That lasted seven years and when the Braves made some changes, Justin found himself in the Washington Nationals’ organization—first for the Potomac Nationals, then in Syracuse working for the Chiefs, the Nationals’ Triple AAA club.

In a Pickle

The baseball grind was wearing, and with Justin’s folks getting older, he began looking toward Richmond again. Then, he found that the Spiders had been left in a pickle by a suddenly departing Equipment Manager.

“The equipment guy quit two weeks before football season started. Ken Hart came in after several years of retirement and I learn from Ken and we got through football season,” Justin said. With Ken’s blessing, Justin took over the office after the 2017 season.

“I think it’s something I was born to do,” Justin said. “I’m very detail oriented and my mind is always working.

“Being in the equipment room, it’s different every day. I don’t think I could sit behind a desk from 8 to 5 every day.”

Justin said he liked working with the folks he rubs shoulders with every day—the student managers, the athletes, and the coaches.

“The college athletes are student-athletes. These are super smart kids and they want to fill their minds with so much. They still have the rah-rah about them to really come together as a team and win as a team. I think that makes the equipment job more worthwhile.”

“I enjoy working with the coaches and when they are in a pinch I can offer solutions quickly and efficiently,” he said. “It’s so nice to come through and take the burden away from them – to look out there and see you had a hand in getting everything together so a team can be successful.”

As far as his future, Justin doesn’t look too far away.

“I’d like to be here for a while. It’s really pretty here and we have some good resources. I’m back home.”

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