Crystal Davis

November 28, 2012

Interview 2

Imagine being able to work for a professional basketball team and in the process meet and see famous people from the players themselves to well-known celebrities in the industry. Here at SFA, graduate student, Justin Saunders got that opportunity when he began working for the Dallas Mavericks. For six years Saunders worked for the Mavericks, and during that time had many memorable experiences.

Saunders started working for the Mavericks as a ball boy his sophomore year in high school. He would be the rebounder and get the balls for the players as they shot and pass it back to them. While doing that he also would sweep the floor whenever a player fell . There were also other things that Saunders had to pick up. “ Paul Pierce’s mouth piece fell out and I had to get that, ” said Saunders. Sweatbands also were another hazard that he would pick up too.

Throughout the season the Mavericks would host a number of basketball camps. Saunders was a very skilled basketball player in high school and played in two state all-star games, named First Team All-Henderson County, and named First Team All-Region. Summer 2006 he was offered the opportunity to coach one of the Mavericks basketball camps, and continued that through his college years as well until last year. During that time he met many players and went to two NBA finals. He said, “ I saw people like Tony Romo, Troy Aikman, and Emmitt Smith were all there.”

After that in 2009 he got offered with a job with the Mavericks’ street marketing team. He helped set up the “fan experiences” for the Mavericks games and got the crowd involved in dunk contests and other activities during half time. He worked closely with the Mavericks’ sponsors and went out to their locations and helped put on events for the customers of those sponsors to give back to the community.

Saunders went through many experiences while working with the Mavericks, and has enjoyed every moment. Besides meeting the players at the camps he was able to develop a relationship with them as well. He said, “It’s not like we’re best friends or anything, but I got to know them through the camps, Eric Dane Peter…Matt Carol…”

 Other experiences he went through were during game days. There was a tunnel on the court floor that employees and other “higher class” people will sit and go through to avoid the bigger crowds. One NBA All Star game Lil’ Wayne and Young Money attended and according to Saunders, “They literally had ten security guards around them.”

Another game he got the opportunity to hold the American flag while Gretchen Wilson sang the national anthem. Usher also performed during the NBA Finals, and an hour before the performance during the run through, someone came up with a basketball and said, “Usher wants the basketball in all black, make it happen.” Within that hour Saunders was able to gather enough black sharpies and color the entire basketball black. He said when Usher came on stage and before he started he threw the basketball out to the crowd, and all he could think was, “ I did all this work for just a half second.”

One thing Saunders said that he learned from this experience was, “Many people see these basketball players have all this money, but they really do work for it…like ten hour day practices.”

Saunders’ goals after graduation, however, do not include working with the Mavericks. He said, “I’m trying to work for a gas company and work in finance or accounting.” He graduates December 2012 from the Master of Business Administration program at SFA.