Fans of the NBA love watching their favorite players play each night on television, but it’s the behind the scenes workers like team equipment assistants that help each team run smooth and perform optimally.
Gameday is where it gets the wildest for Vince Ford, equipment manager for the Memphis Grizzlies. Uniforms, socks, and towels must be cleaned first thing in the morning and already hung up or folded before his day even begins. Shipment crates containing the Grizzlies’ medical gear and equipment must be in the proper place, and even hundreds of cases of Gatorades must be stored in the locker room.
Practice courts must be ready for use at any time, and he is also in charge of hiring team assistants to help during games with players’ waters, heat packs, and loading trucks with equipment. But after 15 years of being with the organization, he still looks forward to one thing that has never gotten old.
“Watching the game is something I always appreciate and enjoy because I am doing something many people only dream of,” Ford said. “I am paid to do what many people pay a lot of money to do. I make a living watching an NBA game courtside each night, you can’t beat that.”
Ford worked as the manager for his high school’s basketball team after not passing tryouts to play and he ended up loving it. Mississippi State University offered him a scholarship to manage their basketball team and he took it.
During his time there, he sent out several resumes to every NBA team, G-League team, general manager, and equipment manager until the Memphis Grizzlies gave him the chance to be a part of the equipment staff, and he has never looked back since.
For Bri Miller, the equipment assistant for the Memphis Grizzlies and Hustle, she has the aspirations to become the first female equipment manager in the NBA, and she says she is well on her way to reach her goal.
“I wrote down my goal a few years back and I always look at it to remind me of what I want to do and where I want to go with my life,” Miller said. “I want to be someone all coaches and players can trust, unlike media who have a tendency to annoy them. I want to be hands-on with what I have to do and for them to feel my presence and passion through my work.”
As a University of Memphis graduate earning her bachelor’s degree in sports management and leisure, she knew she had to be directly involved with an NBA organization in even the smallest way just to have a chance to take her first steps towards her goal.
She started in retail at the Grizzlies store inside the FedEx Forum, when she met Ford and asked for a chance to be a team assistant. He gave Miller a chance and a year later she went from being a part-time team attendant to the full-time equipment assistant.
Jonathan Forrester, who works as a team assistant for the Grizzlies, says even though it is a low-paying job for the hard work that is put into it, it is the connections that are built, that can help in the future with a career, that matters more.
“I do think it’s worth it because in the sports world and industry, it’s not about what you know but who you know,” Forrester said. “With being with the Grizzlies, I see people from different teams all the time and some remember you and some don’t. But if you do your job correctly and with a passion, chances are they will at least remember your face, and that can go a long way.”
Joshua Rivera 