Austin Mudd

            Life experience is something people all enjoy as they learn and grow, each telling a different story than the other. The difference is what makes one person great and the life experience of Justin Saunders was indeed different.

            From the small city of Athens, TX, the 6’3” Saunders excelled in basketball, earning First-Team All-Region honors and being named to the All-Henderson County First Team. Saunders also played in two state all-star basketball games. However, Saunders was not just the typical high school jock. He was named to the Academic All-State Team and graduated as the class Salutatorian in 2006 from LaPoynor High School.

            During his time in high school, Justin also found opportunity in the NBA. The six-foot three inch Saunders worked as a ball boy for the Dallas Mavericks and was part of the organization during its championship run in 2006. “Players at the level were professional,” Saunders said. “They performed at a level I knew I could never reach, but it was cool to meet so many people during my time there.”

            Saunders met numerous Mavericks players during his time in Dallas, including small forward Shawn Marion. “Yeah, Marion was cool guy, and like many of the guys he had his hobbies,” said Saunders. “I remember he liked to DJ actually.”             During his time on the NBA sidelines, Saunders mingled with some of world’s most talented athletes. Saunders even helped in preparing the Eastern Conference All-Star team for the all star game in Dallas in 2010. “It was incredible,” Saunders said. “The all star game gave me an opportunity to meet players like Lebron James.” Saunders spoke of crushing defeats and glorious triumphs as he chronicled his expediencies in the NBA.

“It was weird to see the reaction of some of the players after the 2006 NBA finals,” Saunders said. “Those guys were grown men and it was weird to see them break down and cry when they played at the level they are playing at, but at the same time it was important to them. The NBA final was the pinnacle of the sport.”

Saunders also met other celebrities, such as Lil Wayne and Usher, through his job with the Dallas Mavericks, but the star struck feeling of meeting all these famous faces eventually faded with time. “I eventually got used to it.” Saunders said. “You eventually realize they are just normal people like us, except a little taller.”

In 2006, Saunders graduated from high school and received a scholarship to play basketball at LeTourneau University in Longview. However, in his sophomore year Saunders transferred to Stephen F. Austin State to pursue a degree in economics. During his time at SFA Saunders was very active. “I really enjoyed getting involved,” Saunders said. “Whether it was with the fraternity, Jack Walkers, or whatever, I always wanted to be involved on campus.” Justin joined Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, was part of the Driving Jacks Review board, and also received the Presidential Volunteer Service Award in 2009. And in 2010 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics.

            However, Saunders was not done learning. Following graduation, he was accepted into Masters of Business Administration programs at the University of Mississippi and Tulane University. However, Saunders declined and instead continued his education at SFA. “I was content here at SFA and I knew I could get a good education here as well,” Saunders said. “So I decided to pursue my education further right here in Nac.”

            Saunders is in the final semester of his MBA program at SFA and will graduate in December 2012 to eventually pursue a career in finance.

Megan Chase

            From growing up on a farm, to being an all-star basketball player in high school, to working for the Dallas Mavericks, Justin Saunders has done it all.

            Saunders grew up in the small down of Athens and graduated as the salutatorian in 2006 from LaPoynor High School. He was the all-star basketball player for the high school team earning many titles and even played in two state all-star basketball games. Saunders was offered a scholarship to LeTourneau University in Longview, to play college basketball his freshman year of college, and ended up transferring to Stephen F. Austin State University his sophomore year.

            “I just didn’t like it. It LeTourneau wasn’t for me,” said Saunders.

Upon arriving at SFA Saunders became very involved on campus. He was awarded the Presidential Volunteer Service Award in 2009, was on the Driving Jacks Review Board, a sophomore homecoming nominee, a Jack Walker, and an active member of his fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

            On the outside Saunders looked like a normal tall, good-looking, brunette student, but not a lot of people knew that he had pretty tight connections with the Dallas Mavericks. Saunders helped work basketball camps during the summers of his high school years and in 2003 his boss offered him a job working with the Dallas Mavericks.

            “He knew my work ethic, and that I was responsible and trustworthy. I was going to be a good candidate for the job, “ Saunders said.

            Saunders was a part of the Mavericks Street Marketing Team.

            “We were fan entertainers. We set up dunk pits, shooting games, and other stuff like that. But we also had to wipe up sweat and make sure that the court was clear at all times,” said Saunders.

            It was a fun job for him, but it was also quite hard balancing work, high school and some college courses all at once. He would go to school during the day, do homework, go to college evening class and then have to drive an hour and a half from Athens to Dallas for the Mavericks game at night.

            “It was hard at times balancing everything, but in the end, looking back in it, it really has prepared me for the real world and for future jobs,” said Saunders.

            Over the ten years that Saunders has worked for the Dallas Mavericks he has had the privilege of meeting and getting to know many people. He was able to hold the American flag as Gretchen Wilson sang the National Anthem at one game. One time his locker room was next to Shakira’s dressing room and he joked saying she was literally five feet tall. During the play-offs last year Lil Wayne and Young Money were at all of the games courtside. Saunders has also become friends with some of the Mavericks players even getting an exclusive invite to one of the player’s birthday parties. But, he is not letting all of this hype get to his head.

            “It’s weird to say, but you almost become numb to seeing famous people after awhile. You see them so much while working with them that it’s really not that big of a deal anymore,” said Saunders.

            Saunders also said that working for famous people is also not as glamorous as it may seem. Besides wiping up basketball players’ sweat he had to pick up a spit-covered mouthpiece and sweat-covered bands from the court.

            Through everything that Saunders has been through over the past ten years he would not take back or re-do anything. Working for the Dallas Mavericks Street Marketing Team has prepared him for the real world. After graduation he plans to move to Dallas and work his way into the oil field industry.

Kaylee Hodge

“Working for a professional team is not as glamorous as it looks,” said graduate student Justin Saunders who worked for the Dallas Mavericks after graduating high school.

            Saunders grew up in Athens, Texas, a town about an hour southeast of Dallas.  He graduated from LaPoynor High School in 2006 where he was a very accomplished student as well as athlete.  He played in two state all-star basketball teams, named First Team All-Henderson County, First Team All-Region, and All-East Basketball teams. In addition to his athletic accomplishments, Saunders was also named to the Academic All-State Team as a senior and the salutatorian of his class.

            After high school Saunders played basketball at LeTourneau University in Longview. “I just didn’t like it. LeTourneau wasn’t for me,” Saunders said. He transferred to Stephen F. Austin State University his sophomore year where he graduated with his Bachelors of Arts in Economics and decided to stay to continue his education. 

            At SFA, Saunders was awarded the Presidential Volunteer Service Award, and he was an active member in Sigma Alpha Epsilon and numerous other organizations.

            As well as going to school full-time Saunders also worked for the Dallas Mavericks where he coached about 20 basketball camps a year as part of the Mavericks out reach programs, and a member of the Mavericks Street Marketing Team that set up fan experience events.

             “Through doing that I met a lot of players, had a lot of really cool experiences, got to work the NBA all-star game in 2010, and went to two NBA finals,” said Saunders

            While working with the Mavericks, Saunders had the opportunity to meet many famous celebrities such as Eva Longoria, Shakira, Usher, Gretchen Wilson, Lil Wayne, as well as many professional basketball players. He even became friends with a few of the Mavericks players he would see at work.

            During the All-Star game, Saunders was called in to work for the entire all-star weekend which included slam dunk contest, 3-point contest, rookie/sophomore game, and the celebrity game. He was at half-court during the slam dunk contest, and was also a rebounder for the players during the 3-point contest.

            He also remembers seeing big name basketball players like LeBron James, and Dwight Howard. During one of the practices Howard set a record and Saunders remembers all the news cameras that were there to capture the moment that Saunders was there to witness first-hand.

He recalled at the All-Star game Usher was one of the artists to perform and at the beginning of his performance he was supposed to throw out a basketball into the crowd and begin his song. Saunders said that Usher was in all black and wanted to basketball to be black as well, and Saunders was told to make it happen. So he raced around Cowboys stadium to find enough Sharpies to color the entire basketball black for Usher to throw out into the crowd. 

            He also remembers being invited to Erick Dampier’s birthday party. “But it sounded kind of sketchy, so I didn’t end up going,” said Saunders.

            Saunders remembers his experience with the Mavericks and all the celebrities as almost becoming numb to all the celebrities because he saw them so often that it just was any other day to him. But Saunders holds the most respect for the players and their dedication to the game.

“On one hand these guys have all the money in the world, but on the other hand they work so hard to get it and they work so hard to get to where they are now,” Saunders said.

Casey Yetter

Interview 2

Casey Yetter

From playing basket throughout his childhood to working for the Dallas Mavericks Justin Saunders has done a lot.

Saunders grew up in Athens, a small east Texas town about an hour and a half southeast of Dallas. In 2003, during high school, Saunders played basketball and became very decorated. As a senior he was named to the Academic All State Team, played in two state all star basketball games, was named First Team All-Henderson Country, First-Team All-Region, and All-East Texas basketball teams. During high school Saunders also started working for the Dallas Mavericks as a ball boy and doing other miscellaneous jobs, anything from mopping up sweat from the court to rebounding balls.

After graduating from LaPoynor High School in 2006 Saunders knew the person who was in charge of the Mavericks Basketball Camps and got offered a job coaching. Two weeks after graduation he was working his first camp.

Saunders accepted a scholarship to play basketball at Letourneau University in Longview. “When I graduated I actually got a scholarship to play basketball in a small division three school in Longview,” he said. “I went there and played my first year and didn’t really like it that much so I started looking for an exit strategy. I’m from east Texas and my hometown is probably about an hour from Nacogdoches so it was like a perfect match. I could go home any time I wanted to but it’s far enough to where my parents weren’t bombarding me all the time.” Saunders ended up transferring to Stephen F. Austin State University.

Saunders continued to work for the Dallas Mavericks throughout college and got to experience a lot of things including two NBA final games. Through the years that Saunders worked for the Mavericks he had made connections to the mascot, who was in charge of the Mavericks Street Marketing team. On game days they would go out and set up fan experiences like dunk pits or shooting games at sponsor locations to get the fans involved.

When Saunders was a senior in college he got called to work the NBA All Star game in Dallas at the Cowboys stadium. He took off school and went to Dallas for a week and got to work in a lot of the events. He was on the court during the slam-dunk contest and rebounded balls during the three-point contest.

Throughout his work with the Dallas Mavericks Saunders met and worked with a lot of the players. He said, “It’s not like we were best friends or anything but there have been some players throughout the years that I have gotten to know really well. Erick Dampier I knew him pretty well, Matt Carroll who plays for the Charlotte Bobcats now. I knew him pretty well too. I’m trying to think, A lot of the guys in know aren’t on this team anymore. But I did get to know some of them mostly through camps.”

Saunders seemed to have the utmost respect for the work and effort these guys have to put in the game. “They have more money than you would ever spend in your lifetime,,” he said. “But at the same time they are in the position that they are because of hard work, when I think of an NBA athlete a lot of people out there have the skills to be a professional athlete but only a small amount of them actually put in the time and effort to take what they have from good to excellent. On one hand they have a lot of money but they work so hard to get to where they are now.”

Saunders said during the off season some of the guys use their money for hobbies such as buying and fixing cars, exotic trips and even being a DJ.

Saunders plans to graduate with his MBA this December but said he doesn’t want to continue work with the Mavericks. “Working for a professional sports teams is not as glamorous as it looks,” he said.  He said he hopes to get a job for the oil company he interned for last summer.

Devin Way

A small town high school basketball star began working for the Mavericks then came to SFA. Justin Saunders was just a sophomore at LaPoyner High School when he began working for the Mavericks in 2003.

 He said, “I started out working as a ball boy.” Justin worked on the court during games and would rebound for the players on game days. However, when he wasn’t putting his time into serving professional athletes, Justin was busy having an athletic career of his own. His senior year in high school he was named to the Academic All-State team.

He said, “I played in two state all-star basketball games, was named First Team All-Henderson County, First-Team All-Region, and All-East Texas basketball teams.” Justin graduated high school in 2006 as a very decorated basketball player as well as salutatorian of his class.

Justin knew the guy who was over the Maverick’s summer basketball camps and after graduation was offered a job coaching at one of them. After his first summer coaching summer camps, Justin accepted a scholarship and began his collegiate basketball career at LeTourneau University in Longview.

During this time period of his life, Justin befriended MavMan, the mascot for the Mavericks. That led to him become a part of their street marketing team. He said, “We would do parades and a lot of public events, working with our sponsors.” Justin has been apart of the maverick team for almost ten years.

Justin came to Stephen F. Austin his sophomore year in college after deciding that he didn’t really enjoy LeTourneau University as much as he thought he would. Once at Stephen F. Austin, Justin became very involved. He said, “ I was very active at SFA.” In 2009 Justin received the Presidential Volunteer Service Award. He was granted many other awards during his time at SFA as well. He was active in Texas Phi Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, named a member of the 1923 Society, Quality Enhancement Plan Design Team and its marketing subcommittee, Driving Jacks Review Board, a sophomore homecoming nominee, Jack Walkers, and the Safe Ride Programs United Committee.

In 2010 Justin graduated from SFA with his Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He was accepted into Master of Business Administration programs at Ole Miss and Tulane University, however, he decided to stay at Stephen F. Austin and continue his education.

During his time in college, Justin continued working summer camps for the Mavericks and remained an active member of their street marketing team. He built many relationships with the players during that time in his life.

He said, “One funny story, probably two or three years ago, when Eric Dampier was still playing on the team. He was an old guy, he was turning probably like 35 and that’s old in the NBA. Anyways, he invited me to his birthday party but it sounded kind of sketchy so I didn’t end up going. But yeah, I got to know some of the guys pretty well.”

Justin believes that NBA players work extremely hard to be where they are. He said that they have more money than a person can spend in a lifetime but worked really hard to get it.

Justin was able to be at many of the half time shows that featured celebrities such as Usher and Shakera and many times was mere feet away from them.  He said, “I actually got to be on the court wile a slam dunk contest was happening in front of me.” Justin said that the coolest thing he got to do was work the practices of the east games where he met Lebron James and Dwaine Wade.

Currently, Justin is in his final semester of the MBA program at SFA and is planning to graduate next month, December, 2012.

Crystal Villarreal

Smiling and standing at 6 feet 3 inches tall, Justin Saunders stood at a small wooden podium and began to speak. He looked relaxed as he spoke about his life growing up in Athens, a really small town near Dallas. He attended and graduated from LaPoynor High School in the year 2006. Justin Saunders was one of the best basketball players on his team; in fact his senior year he was a part of the Academic All-State Team. During this time he won several awards.

As a teenager, Justin worked for the Dallas Mavericks basketball team in the year 2003. “I started out working as a ball boy,” he said. “So during games I would come in and rebound for players during their warm-ups. I worked on the court.” His other tasks included cleaning up after the players and removing and cleaning sweat or dangerous objects from the basketball court.

When he graduated high school in 2006, Justin became even more so involved with the Mavericks. He said, “I was a big athlete in high school and I knew the guy who was in charge of their basketball camps. So they do probably around 20 basketball camps a year all throughout Dallas. So he offered me a job actually coaching at these basketball camps.” He said that through out his experience he got to know a lot of different people including the players and the team’s mascot.

After high school graduation, Justin balanced his job with attending Letourneau University in Longview. He was offered a basketball scholarship there, but said,  “I played my first year but I didn’t really like it that much so I started looking for an exit strategy.” After his sophomore year Justin transferred to Stephen F. Austin State University. “It was a perfect match,” he said. “I could go home any time I wanted to if I needed it. It’s far enough away that my parents aren’t bombarding me with visits all the time.”

Justin started a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at S.F.A. but his time with the Dallas Mavericks continued. Justin got to know some of the basketball players on a personal level. He said he was even invited to one of their birthday parties! He didn’t attend as he felt it was a bit “sketchy.” Throughout his time there he said he was exposed various times to celebrities. As glamorous as it was in the beginning, Justin said he was later dulled to the experience.

As a student Justin was very involved and very dedicated to several jobs and organizations.  He was a part of Greek life on campus, specifically in the Texas Phi Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He was also involved with Driving Jacks. Justin also served as a tour guide for the university, a Jack Walker. During his time on campus he received the Presidential Volunteer Service Award in 2009.

In the year 2010 he graduated from S.F.A. with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He was offered acceptance into prestigious master’s programs in universities such as Ole Miss and Tulane University but respectfully declined and decided to stay in east Texas to earn a Masters degree. He will graduate in December 2012 with an MBA. He is very ambitious and plans to get a job in finance with an oil and gas company. 

Jason Switlik

Justin Saunders is an Economics Master’s student at Stephen F. Austin State University, where he first obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Economics. Justin grew up in a small east Texas town named Athens where he developed a love for the game of basketball, which eventually led him to Stephen F. Austin where he was involved with many organizations on campus.

Saunders graduated from LaPoynor High School in 2006 as the Salutatorian of his class. Saunders not only made an academic impact but also made a name for himself playing basketball as a 6 foot 3 inch post position at LaPoynor, “ I was a very decorated basketball player and as a senior was named to the Academic All-State Team, played in two state all-star basketball games, was named First Team All-Henderson County, First Team All-Region, and All-East Texas basketball teams.” Saunders then said he accepted a scholarship for basketball to LeTourneau University located in Longview but transferred his sophomore year to Stephen F. Austin.

During his high school and college tenure he was able to land a part time job with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks where he said he started as a ball boy but worked his way to the floor team.

“Paul Pierce dropped his mouth guard on the ground one time and I had to pick it up, it was pretty gross” he said.

 Saunders was able to witness 2 NBA finals that the Mavericks played in, and the second one that the Mavericks actually won. He also was able to meet many famous people working for the Mavs, as famous as rapper Lil Wayne and his group.

“It was funny every time one of them got up they had 10 security guards with them” Saunders said.

 Saunders also worked the entire NBA All Star Weekend when it came to Dallas in 2010 where he was a rebounder during the 3:Point Contest and also got to be on the court during the infamous Slam Dunk Contest.

Usher was performing there one night in all black clothing and the lights in the whole stadium would be shut off and Usher would throw a basketball into the stands and then start performing. Saunders said he remembers he got to the stadium an hour early to help out and Usher was doing his walk about on stage when one of Ushers assistants came up to Saunders and asked him to find a way to make the basketball black. So Saunders literally ran around Cowboys Stadium looking for sharpies to color this basketball and spent that whole hour before coloring the basketball that would only be used for about 2 seconds when Ushers show started.

Saunders also saw Shakira and Gretchen Wilson perform during All Star Weekend but mainly worked the practices for the NBA East team.

When talking about his work for the Mavericks, Saunders was also asked if he ever got close with any of the players on the Mavericks team. He went on to say that he never really got close with any of them but was able to hang out quite a bit of players like Erick Dampier. Saunders was invited to one of the player’s birthday parties once but said “it was kind of sketchy so I decided not to go” Saunders was also asked if he ever thought he could have been playing along with those guys, as he laughed and said not a chance because of the size difference.

While Saunders was an undergrad at Stephen F. Austin he was involved in many organizations such as Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Quality Enhancement Plan Design Team, Driving Jacks Review Board, and the Safe Ride Programs United Committee. Saunders also received quite a few awards such as the Presidential Volunteer Service Award in 2009, and was also a sophomore homecoming nominee.

When asked about his plans after college, he said he would like to move back to Dallas and work for an oil and gas company in a finance or accounting department. He was then asked why he wouldn’t try working for the Mavericks and said those guys put in a lot of hours and receive little pay.

Saunders plans to graduate December 2012.