The Man Who Sweats the Small Stuff

Photo credit: Joshua L. Halley/Southern Digest Derek Price, head equipment manager for the Southern University athletic department, washes the women's basketball team's uniforms after a 69-50 victory March 2 over Prarie View A&M University.

By Brandi Worley
Black College Wire

Derek Price really knows what it's like to be the first one to arrive for work and the last to leave.

As the equipment manager for Southern University's athletic department, he gathers all the equipment for the school's 18 NCAA Division I sports. He has another task: He takes care of players so they don't have to sweat the small stuff.

"This is the job that the average sports person never knows exists," Price said. "It's not a limelight job. They have no idea what it takes to get this done."

A normal workday for Price starts before the sun rises and might not end until 11 p.m. The most time-consuming sport on his log is football. Price has to take care of up to 90 football players. His crowded office – a double-wide temporary trailer since the fall of 2002 -- houses a sewing machine, shoes and uniforms.

Every day, each player requires an equipment check for safety because a helmet could be cracked, pads could be broken or uniforms may need mending. Price's hands pass over the upkeep of all of that with the aid of a full-time assistant and five students.

Price said from time to time he goes into locker rooms to change athletes' footwear. A baseball player might love to wear his shoes until they are worn thin, Price said. But the shoe with a hole in it might be a hazard.

"The philosophy of an equipment manager is to make sure the player and coaches don't have to worry about, 'Will the uniforms be there?' or 'Are there going to be enough balls?' " Price said. "All they have to do is worry about playing."

In the dugout, Roy Merritt, a junior outfielder on the baseball team, said Price is invaluable to the team. Merritt wore his new practice gear from head to toe, direct from Price's inventory.

"It's real important for everything to be on the field on time," Merritt said. "If we don't have our stuff, we worry about it."

In Price's 13 years at Southern, his expertise has earned him all-expense paid invitations to every Super Bowl to perform communication operations for coaches. He was on the sidelines at Super Bowl XL in Detroit in February.

"I just got back," Price said. "I'm pretty decent at what I do. I'm not tooting my own horn."

Brandi Worley, a student at Southern University, writes for the Southern Digest.

Posted March 12, 2006