Rolando Alvarez

Rolando Alvarez

Interview #2 Justin Saunders

A former NBA ball boy pursued his career in the financial world for an oil company after a series of exciting events throughout his teenage years.

Justin Saunders grew up in Athens, a small town in East Texas where he was an outstanding basketball player and a brilliant scholar. Saunders was the salutatorian of his class therefore he was named to the Academic All-State Team his senior year. He played in two state all-star basketball games and was named in many other honorable categories. Saunders said, “I was one of the better players in the area.”

 During his sophomore year Saunders started working for the Dallas Mavericks.  He said, “I started out working as a ball boy,” so during game days Saunders would come in and rebound the players during their warm-ups and in a case of a player falling down, he and his crew would wipe up the moisture from the court.  Later he moved on doing a bit of advertising for the team. He would go to the sponsor’s location and have this big SUV plastered with Mavericks gear and allow customers to enjoy all of the fan paraphernalia, “We did a lot of parades and public events,” he said, and added that he had a lot of fun doing these activities.

While working for the Mavericks Saunders said he has seen a lot of celebrities, including Tony Romo, Shakira, Troy Aikman and Emmet Smith.  He has met Jessica Simpson and Ryan Cabrera and saw Lil’ Wayne and all of the “Young Money” crew at one point.  He said, “I saw these people almost regularly so that I just became numb to it.”  One time one of Usher’s representatives came up to Saunders and told him that Usher wanted him to somehow paint a basketball black to go with the whole blackout theme he had going on for the show, so without hesitation Saunders took on this request. “I spent like an hour running around the Cowboys Stadium looking for Sharpies to paint this ball black,” he said. Finally he had painted the ball completely black to only see Usher hold it in his hands for a split second before throwing it in the crowd.

One of the most exciting things Saunders got to experience was being a part of the All-Star games. This is a four-day event where various activities take place.  “My brother and I got to rebound and rack the basketballs while they were having the three pointer contest, he said. He also had front row seats to the dunking contest, well, so to speak. Saunders was on the court helping but still was on the same court that all of these All-Stars were on, something most people don’t get to do everyday.

Upon graduating from LaPoynor High School Saunders was offered scholarships to play basketball for Letourneau University in Longview, which he later accepted. However, Saunders did not really like his experience at LeTourneau, and said, “It just wasn’t for me, it was a small school and it just wasn’t a good fit for me.” After spending a year at LeTourneau, Saunders transferred to Stephen F. Austin State University his sophomore year.

Saunders was pleased with Stephen F. Austin and he was involved in many different organizations. “I was very active at SFA and awarded the Presidential Volunteer Service Award in 2009.,” he said. He was also involved in the 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.

Saunders graduated from SFA in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and despite his acceptance into the Master of Business Administration programs at Ole Miss Tulane University he stayed loyal to Stephen F. Austin and is currently continuing his education here. He is now on his final semester of the MBA program and will graduate with a master on December 2012.  He is hoping for an internship with an oil company out of the Dallas area so he can one day accomplish his professional career.