Note from an equipment manager (1956-60)
Sunday’s stories about football managers spurred this response from a reader and reminds us that unsung heroes have been making sports events possible for a very long time:
Thank you for The Longest Day article. It brought back many memories from long ago when I was both a basketball and baseball manager for the Washington Huskies.
It was much simpler in my time, 1956-1960. Basketball, we traveled with 12 players, 3 coaches, 1 trainer and a manager. My senior manager year our “dreamtrip” was to Hawaii on what turned out to be a 10-day stay at Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village. We played the ‘Bows two games (coached by Ah Chew Goo) and the Marines one game at Bloch Arena.
Only one member of our traveling party had ever been to Hawaii. It was on this trip I decided maybe a hospitality career was for me. Many years later I retired from Outrigger.
My most memorable experience was a New Year’s weekend in Los Angles watching my Huskies practice in the brand new Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena using towels wrapped in tape for balls. The manager had left the basketballs in Seattle. I survived that mishap and have enjoyed many friendships from my managerial days at the UW. I think the ‘Bows staff will have many memories and friendships from their time at the UH.
Mahalo,
Jim Roser
What a thankless (but totally necessary) job. At least the school feeds them lunch and (cold) pizza.
Folks who like to say millennials are lazy and always looking for handouts should see this group in action. … Very efficient and team-oriented, even at the end of a 13-hour work day.
Awesome story Dave! As a former Sports Marketing volunteer/worker, liked that H-Crew (IMG Marketing) got two mentions in your timeline rundown. 🙂 Though our days were slightly shorter, we could relate to the trainers and we ourselves had that same sense of camaraderie with one another since we had long days to work. Brings back memories for sure.