Willie Jefferson

Willie Jefferson III

From a Dallas Mavericks ball boy to graduating in December of 2012 with a MBA, tall, well-spoken, east Texas native Justin Saunders is in his last few weeks of being a Stephen F. Austin grad student.

 Justin grew up in the city of Athens, TX, an hour and half southeast of Dallas. He graduated from LaPrynor High School where he was an outstanding student-athlete. Receiving multiple awards for his achievements he also played in several all-star games and was placed on several all-state teams. This granted Justin a scholarship to LaTourneau University in Longview, to pursue his basketball aspirations.

After playing for a year Justin decided it was time for a change so he transferred to Stephen F. Austin his sophomore year. Justin graduated from Stephen F. Austin in 2010 with his Bachelors of Arts in Economics. He had offers to attend other universities if he wanted to continue for his master’s but he decided to stay here to continue his education. Justin is a member of the Texas Phi Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and he also carries many of positions on the campus of Stephen F. Austin

In the midst of high school and college Justin had a hobby of being a ball boy for the Dallas Mavericks. Justin was so lucky that he went to two NBA finals one in which the Mavericks won. Justin said, “They were pumped, they waited their whole lives for this,” 

The time he spent with the Mavericks wasn’t just work he also got to meet and became pretty close with a few of the teams players. Justin said he was pretty close to Eric Dampier. “Eric Dampier asked me to attend his birthday party once, I thought it was kind of sketchy so I didn’t attend,” Justin said.  Justin also got to know the Mavericks’ mascot Mavs Man really well. While knowing Mavs Man he became a member of the street team organization that went around and help setup fan experiences for the people of Dallas.

Justin was also fortunate enough to be around when the NBA hosted the all-star game in the Conway Center. When this happened Justin was the ball boy for a few of the all-star activities being held in the arena. He helped with the slam-dunk contest and he also rebounded the shots in the three point shooting contest.  For the halftime performance Justin was asked to paint a basketball all black to match the outfit that the singer Usher was wearing.  Justin said, “ I ran around the stadium looking for as many Sharpies as I could find and he only held it for half a second and threw it into the crowd,”

Because Justin was so close to so many NBA players and had a chance to get to know them he knew how were they outside of the gym. Justin said, “They have tons of money to spend, more money then you can spend in a lifetime, but they receive it on possession of hard work.”

Justin said he couldn’t imagine stepping on the court even after seeing them play for so many of years: “When I think of NBA I think of a lot of people who have physical skills to be a professional athlete, but only a few can take the time to perfect their skills to get them where they are.”

As he was there when the Mavericks won a championship he was also there when they lost. Justin said, “ You usually don’t see grown men breaking down and crying all the time.”

It was pleasure for the class to hear Justin speak about his life and how fun it was for him to be apart of an NBA teams staff being around people some could only imagine seeing from seats in the stands.

Justin graduates in December with a master’s degree in business.