I like asking questions and sharing other people’s stories here, but now it’s my time to share my story.
So, what inspired me to write this one? Well, I was actually thinking of what family member provided me my passion for sports. Not playing but watching them on television. Them, referring to baseball and basketball. It was definitely my grandfather. Not, my mom and dad. I don’t remember doing anything sports related with my parents. My parents both had full-time jobs, and my older brother by 4 years had no interest in sports. I know I played soccer for the JCC in San Antonio as a young teen, and had a few trophies, but it never stuck to me as something to pursue.
My dad did put up a basketball hoop in the driveway above the garage and did have to jerry-rig it a little bit with some wood and he made sure it was 10 feet high. I had lots of solo shooting from every angle, and yeah, I would have to have them move cars, so I had room. I would also throw the ball on the roof and when it came down, it was catch-and-shoot for me. I actually had a pretty decent outside shot, but over time and as I got older, my shooting skills have disappeared! When my parents weren’t able to move cars, I worked around them and occasionally hitting them or bouncing the ball off them! Sorry for the basketball dents!
I also, at one point, had a metal over the door basketball hoop in my bedroom, and I had a lot of fun bouncing a ball off the wall and dunking it. It was sturdy.
Whether I was inside our outside, I always imagined I was on the San Antonio Spurs with the clock winding down and if a shot goes in, we win! Let me say, we always won, even if took several attempts! It was David Robinson, Terry Cummings, Willie Anderson, Sean Elliot, and Mark Lieberman. The best starting five ever! When I worked for Chase Bank many many many years later, one of my co-workers from a different department but at one point, she sat in front of me, was one of Willie’s ex-wives! I didn’t know it until one day when she was talking about her daughters and there dad who attended Georgia and I put it all together. We would chat about life and her family, but I never asked directly about him. I think once, I said, you probably have some good stories for a book!
My grandfather subscribed to Sports Illustrated and a few other sporting magazines and would give them to me. I doubt he read them! I don’t remember reading them from cover to cover, but I gained a lot of knowledge about baseball and basketball. On my own accord, I became an avid reader of the Official NBA Guide from The Sporting News; it was full of stats and stats and more stats! Name a record, and it was in there.
I never played sports in school, although I was the student manager of the Clark High School Varsity basketball team throughout my 4 years (my role was filming all the games) and I operated the scoreboard and kept track of the stats at the Freshman and JV games when needed.
I spent a lot of nights in my younger days watching sports with my grandfather. I never heard anything bad from my grandfather about any player, except Charles Barkley. He thought he was a dirty player.
I collected baseball and basketball cards in my teenager years, and have gotten rid of most of them, only keeping the ones that I think are valuable.
Now, let’s get to all the pre-submitted questions from my readers…
How did I get started as a high school football statistician?
In 1996, a friend of the family, Marc Hoenig, was starting his radio broadcasting career for the Cuero High School men’s basketball team which is 90 miles from San Antonio. Marc is my brothers age, and his sister is a year older than me, and their parents and my parents are best friends. So, we all knew each other well and hung out a lot together. Marc was aware that I had statistician experience in high school and offered me a job. The pay was very little and would come from his own pocket. I didn’t even think about it and accepted right away. It seemed like a fun opportunity and something new. I also didn’t mind that there would be games during the weekday when I had class the following day.
After the Cuero basketball season ended, Marc did play-by-play for high school football games with Dave Paul as the color commentator. Dave is one of the co-founders of Pluckers Wing Bar in Austin. I stood alongside Marc to do stats and again was paid by him out of his pocket. I didn’t know anything about the football rules and stats, but I picked it up quickly as I went along.
I was a high school football statistician for the Texas Sports Radio Network (TSRN) from 1996 to 2014 and for Thursday Night Lights (TNL) from 2009 to 2015.
What are the duties of a statistician?
I provided offensive statistical numbers to the broadcasters by using dry erase boards. This included first downs, 3rd down conversions, penalties, punts, turnovers, time of possession, drive summaries, individual stats (quarterbacks, running backs, and receivers), how long a particular play was, and total yards and plays. For both, I also would be a spotter if needed. A spotter is somebody who identifies the player who gets the ball or the player who made the tackle. For the TNL games, I also provided these numbers to the graphics operators in the truck so they could put them on the TV screen.
If a particular player or team was approaching a record, I would keep that in the back of my brain so I could keep the crew aware.
One game for TNL, I knew that a particular player was approaching a record for most rushing yards for a TNL game, and when I saw he was going to break it, I was ready and wrote down a few numbers on my dry erase board, and without any hesitation from Don Harris, the play-by-play broadcaster, he knew what it meant and it came out perfectly! On the commercial break after, Don gave me kudos to the producers!
What advice would I give someone considering this type of job?
You must be passionate and enthusiastic about high school football. Of all the media people I have met, we shared these traits.
Always be proactive (don’t ask, just do it). From 2003 to 2014, I worked Judson football games with the TSRN boss, and I knew what he needed in preparation for the games, and I provided it (stats from the newspaper, officials working the game, and adding pertinent information to the line-ups if it was missing grade classification, name, or number).
Be willing to work for either no money or very little money. When I started, I was getting paid out of somebody’s own pocket.
Show up to as many games as possible. Eventually, you will be recognized, and somebody will want you.
What challenges or problems did I face as a statistician?
All –Star games, triple option teams, no huddle offenses, and teams where it is difficult to see the jersey number makes a statistician’s job challenging. Blowouts can also be difficult because you must remain focused.
What did I like most and least about being a statistician?
I had a front row seat in the press box for the most exciting sport in the state of Texas — HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL. I got to see a lot of tremendous athletes, I have covered several state championships, and I got to cover games at AT&T Stadium in Dallas and NRG Stadium in Houston. You can’t beat that!
I don’t like seeing injuries and I have seen some horrific injuries — in one of them, a player got paralyzed. That is always very sad to witness.
How did I get started as a freelance sports writer?
In 2011, I jumped on the internet BLOG bandwagon and started writing about the games I covered as a statistician. I wanted to share stats, photos, and my overall thoughts.
In March of 2015, my wife asked me if I liked being a statistician or a writer better. Without any hesitation from me, I replied I liked writing better.
So, I retired from TSRN as a statistician and become a sportswriter and photographer on Friday’s and Saturday’s starting with the 2015 high school football season.
I didn’t want to give up my Thursday stat job with Thursday Night Lights in 2015 since the pay was triple from what I was making with TSRN. Before the 2016 high school football season began with Thursday Night Lights, I officially retired as a statistician and continued along my path as a sportswriter and photographer.
For most of the games I covered as a writer, I preferred the field to the press box. The bigger the school or the game, the more people were on the field. I liked the smaller ones much better. It was a totally different experience for me to be amongst the players and coaches and be able to see and hear the crowd and bands. I guess, you can say that I liked the noise and the energy. I had a backpack with supplies for my camera, a monopod, water, and snacks. I rarely had my laptop with me.
During the 2015 high school football season, I had articles published on www.sasports.com, www.texashsfootball.com, www.texasredzonerport.com, and my website, www.thestatmanspeaks.com and I got paid a little bit for them. I had official looking media credentials and enjoyed flashing them.
For the 2016 and 2017 high school football seasons, I published articles on my website, www.thestatmanspeaks.com, and got paid from St. Anthony Catholic High School as I covered their football team in 2016.
The last game I covered as a writer was a playoff game between the Cuero Gobblers and the Navarro Panthers on December 1, 2017. Strange how things work as my first game as a statistician was for the Cuero basketball team, and my last game as a sportswriter and photographer was for the Cuero football team.
How did I get the job with the San Antonio Spurs? And, what did I do?
In 1999, I was working part-time for a small locally owned computer company. We had just moved to a larger building. We were hiring more staff, and I was in charge of the Returns Merchandise Authorizations (RMA) department (basically, any bad computer component went through me). I also, at times, would help build and fix computers if we were backed up. It was a good job for me at that point in my life. I was still a year out from graduating college. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do as a career and had no career aspirations. After I graduated high school, I was thinking about getting an undergraduate degree in Sports Management, but that never panned out. Was it because it was probably an out-of-state school or just not being prepared, probably both! I had applied for another job with the Spurs shortly after I started college at UTSA in 1995, and I didn’t get it because I was still thinking out about the possibility of transferring to a college for sports management and maybe I told the HR lady that.
I don’t remember where I saw the Spurs Rewards Internship job posted (maybe a place called Work in Sports or Jobs in Sports), but it seemed like something interesting and fun, and it was a shot in the door of working for a professional franchise. So, I applied for the internship (which I think was about $500 monthly), and eventually, I got it and it started in October of 1999. Yeah, I missed the 1999 Championship season, but I did get some free Championship memorabilia. One of those things is an autographed picture of Avery Johnson hitting the winning shot to clinch Game 5 in New York.
I worked with the Spurs Rewards fan appreciation program under the Fan Relations department. Basically, if you come to games and swipe a card, you can get free things. The kiosks were able to ask specific questions and that helped our Marketing department. One of the first prizes for enrolling and swiping a card at that first game, was a free Sprite!
One member I enrolled was Tim Duncan’s wife at that time, Amy. Normally, we don’t do that, but since Tim was the franchise, she was curious about the program and wanted to know more. So, I said sure thing!
I made sure our kiosks were stocked with coupon paper, our headquarters had enough supplies for redemption, I checked in volunteers who would man several tables throughout the Alamodome and even outside (we had two gazebos) to enroll new members, and I operated a laptop for those who forgot there card or just needed general maintenance performed (like, a card not working).
I didn’t use a dolly for the deliveries, instead, I used a small electric drivable pallet jack. It drove very easily, once I figured it out. The only downside was I had to use the freight elevators which were located near the loading dock, so it was a far drive (but, quick with my wheels)! A lot of the maintenance crew had bicycles, and I did see an air hose hanging from the ceiling in the loading dock. The loading dock was also where the Spurs players parked their cars. Plenty of room for everybody.
I had a walkie-talkie so I would often be running around fixing kiosks and getting more rewards. I would often watch the end of the game from the Spurs tunnel if they were winning and the visitors tunnel if they were losing.
The Internship ended after a year, but because of my outstanding performance, I was called back to assist the program as a part-time employee until it finally ended in May of 2002. It was a seasonal position, so I only worked during the season. One year I designed one of the backgrounds for the kiosks and wrote a wrap-up book for the program that was provided to current and potential sponsors; that was fun as I had to work with other departments to obtain the informations I needed.
In the summer of 2000, I worked for the San Antonio Missions baseball team in a similar role. One of the employees of the company that provided the services to the Spurs and the Missions, was the son of a US Senator, and yes, we had some interactions. Not the dad, but the son! I believe during the time with the baseball team, that company went out of business, so the Spurs and Missions did as much as possible in-house. I don’t know how much longer the program lasted both at the Missions and the Spurs.
I don’t know why I didn’t get hired on as a full-time employee, and I didn’t ask anybody from HR about it. I have no regrets about those three years, and still am friendly with a few colleagues on social media.
Did I meet any of the players or coaching staff?
On my first day as an Intern, I was asked by my boss to help somebody bring something from the office to her car. That something was about 4 feet tall, was in an orange box, and had wheels for easy movement. When we got in the elevator, I asked her what was in that box, and she replied, “The 1999 Spurs Championship Trophy!!!” I was like, really, wow!!! A few months later, at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, the Spurs had a booth where we had the trophy on display and those mini foldable Spurs games calendars. The Spurs and the Rodeo folks were partnering together to gather support for a new arena. I manned the booth a few times, and when we were done for the day, my co-worker was going to leave the trophy in her car while she partied at the nighttime events! I told her nope, let me take it home, and I will bring back to the office the following day. She agreed, and I got a police escort to my car while I wheeled the trophy to my Saturn! This actually happened three times. First time, I took it home and left it in the box. Second, I took it out, and the last time, we had a party at my parent’s house with it. How awesome is that?
I saw Coach Pop in an elevator once, and said hello and good luck the in the game. Being an employee of the Spurs, they didn’t want us fanning out over players and coaches. Like, OMG, Tim Duncan, you are my favorite player, can I have your autograph – NOPE!!!
It wasn’t like we all had offices near each other, and I could talk to Coach Pop at the water fountain. The basketball operations staff quarters were far from us and I was only in there a few times to help the owners secretary with some computer issues and provide her with some Spurs Rewards. Yes, I did see the owners office.
Leaving one night, Antonio Daniels was behind me and next thing I saw was a flash of speed passing me. I don’t remember what car it was, but it was fast!
I saw the local and national tv and radio personalities eating before the game. Along with our Rewards crew, we were the only ones allowed to eat early. Never bothered them, but it was fun to see the famous personalities!
I got to be a seat filler for one of Tim Duncan’s MVP press conference’s. I got tickets to games and my parents were the lucky recipients of those. I got honored at center court a few times for my outstanding customer service; it is really loud on the court. I got to escort a visiting teams player daughter and girlfriend to there seats (it was Shawn Bradley from the Dallas Mavericks). I got to see The Coyote warming up and he only had the bottom half of the costume on (this was before his identity was known).
One thing I heard about, but never participated in was staff pickup games on the court!
I got to attend a Spurs Christmas party with the staff and the players and their families. I was thinking the party was at a different location in downtown and Tony Parker may have thought the same thing because I saw him in my rear-view mirror! I had to pull over and call my parents for directions; this was way before GPS and smart phones. Greeting everybody was the owner, Peter Holt, and he was handing out Best Buy gift cards. When I left that party, Sean Elliott and his wife were getting their fancy SUV from valet parking and the gentleman from the valet service didn’t know how to open the doors, so Sean to the rescue. My little Saturn was so out of place!
Every month, there would a be a luncheon for all the employees and Coach Pop and GM R.C. Buford would talk about the state of the Spurs.
As an employee with a Spurs ID credential, fans expect you to know everything about everything! I had to direct fans to concession stands, restrooms, elevators, and there seat. One fan I met was on the opposite side of the Alamodome looking for his seat. I helped him and explained that for football games, that section is right where you were, but for basketball, the seating configuration changes and that section is moved to under the curtain divider.
Yes, I did get to see the Spurs locker room once as that was one of the Rewards from a raffle. We had other raffles as well. One was an autographed pair of shoes from each player, and it gave me such great joy to give them to the winners. Steve Kerr, was one of the players on the Spurs, and I gave his autographed showed to a young boy. A few weeks later, he sent a thank you note telling me he was going to be a shooter, just like Steve Kerr (included was also a picture of him wearing them). I still have a Spurs jacket and Spurs laptop bag as they were our Rewards for attending every game!
I got to meet and chat with a lot of fans. A long time Spurs season ticket holder gave me an autographed picture of Tim Duncan when he first arrived in San Antonio! Pretty cool! There were some fans who would find me first before they got seated. Spurs fans also get all decked out and wear everything Spurs.Whether it be makeup, flags, shirts, buttons, pants, shoes, hats, posters, necklaces, rings, or socks, they know how to show spirit! One fan wanted me to take them to the visiting locker room so they could meet Shaquille O’Neal! That was actually a common request from fans; well not to meet Shaq but to get player autographs!
After one particular game ended, I was leaving and was almost at the door when a drunk female fan stopped me and starting flirting with me. She was very cute so I played along but also noticed her husband or boyfriend standing near us. I just laughed and told him to have a nice evening and get her home safely! Sometimes, I got lost just people watching at the games. Especially the female fans. I mean, they would wear such revealing clothes that it was almost impossible not to notice them. They wanted the attention. One female fan I saw had a tattoo that went from the back of her neck to the tip of her rear.
I have a ticket stub for the last game in Reunion Arena (home of the Dallas Mavericks) in Dallas on May 12, 2001. The organization arranged to have two bus loads of employees so we could watch the Spurs win. The bus I chose was people from my department, some of the Spurs Silver Dancers, and some folks from Human Resources! We were up 3 games to zero over Dallas in the Conference Semifinals. Well, the Spurs lost that game, but it was so much fun to be there! In that game, Dirk Nowitzki from the Mavs broke a tooth and when it happened, he ran so fast to the locker room, that I thought he had to go to the bathroom! We beat them in the next game to clinch that series. Then we were swept by the Los Angeles Lakers, and then the Lakers won the 2001 NBA Finals.
I also have a ticket stub to the last game in the Alamodome from May 12, 2002. We were given a ticket so we could enjoy the last few minutes of the game from a seat. Again, the Spurs were defeated by the Lakers who won the 2002 NBA Finals.
In March of 2002, my parents and I visited New York City. Yes, six months after 9/11, you could still see the smoke from the Twin Towers. When I looked at the NBA schedule for the New York Knicks while we were there, one of the opponents just happened to be the San Antonio Spurs. Even though the game was sold out, I had an in as I was still employed with the San Antonio Spurs. Before the trip, I asked the Director of Media Services, Tom James, if any of the players had extra tickets I could buy off them. Unfortunately, they didn’t. So, I then asked the Director of Ticket Operations, Pat Quinn, and she called her counterpart at the Knicks and I ended up getting tickets to the game; yes, I had to pay! But, I was able to experience one of the world’s most famous arenas. We took a subway from Princeton Junction directly to Madison Square Garden; it was my dad, my Uncle Saul, and me! How cool is that?
After one game, somebody called in a bomb threat so we had to evacuate, and watched the excitement from the parking lot. One of our Interns, it was her first day, and we told her to meet us in the office after the game. I had to get a police officer to get her out as she had no clue. Nothing was found, it was just an upset fan as the Spurs at that time were in a losing streak.
Do I miss being involved in sports?
For high school football games, I do miss the atmosphere. But I don’t miss the time. I enjoy being home on Friday nights with my wife and son.
It made me feel really good when a fan would say thanks, smile, or shake my hand. That is what I miss most about my experience with the Spurs.
Truth, ever since my son was born in 2016, I haven’t paid any attention to sports, and I don’t care about it as much I did in the past.