Ballin' Boys
The Los Angeles Clippers are a world-renowned sports franchise with many adoring fans. Like most fans, however, these Samo students support their team with blood, sweat and tears. Well, more by cleaning up blood, sweat and tears.
Marcus Gee (’17) and Dariush Sayson (’18) are official Clippers ball boys. Though they do not get paid, Gee and Sayson have stepped foot on the Staples Center court to help Clippers’ players, coaches and managers for the past two years.
Gee and Sayson arrive an hour and a half early to each game to assist players by passing balls and catching their rebounds during the pre-game, according to Sayson. When warm-ups begin, the boys continue this job until the game begins.
They are assigned different quarters to work, since NBA games are broken up into four, 12-minute quarters. While they are not assisting the Clippers, Gee and Sayson get time to relax and revel in watching their team play their famous up-tempo style of basketball.
“We sit on the floor, far right from the basket,” Sayson said. “And when we are not working, we sit in the press box.”
While on duty, they pay keen attention the game. It’s their responsibility to clean up any wet spots on the court where a sweaty player may have fallen, using a specially designed mop.
When the 48-minute game concludes, the ball boys’ duties do not end. After collecting the balls, mops and other equipment, Gee and Sayson then get the opportunity to enter where few can say they have been — an NBA locker room.
Of course, this honor is not bestowed upon just anyone. Gee and Sayson were offered this job not only because of their connection with the Clippers team manager, but also because they possess the mental capacity to be successful student-athletes.
“Our old basketball coaches are very good friends with the team manager of the Clippers,” Sayson said. “They contacted us because we are both great students and exceptional basketball players and thought that we deserved the job, mainly because of our performances in the classroom. We are given a schedule, but we are allowed to attend any home game we would like.”
There was no specific online registration or training that was required for them to become ball boys, according to Gee.
“They just told us what to do and it took a few games to learn what to do,” Gee said. “The first game I was [there] they had me learn from a kid who had been doing it for 10 years and basically when a player falls, you go out and mop the place he fell and when someone is shooting free throws, after they are done, you mop around the outside of the key where the other players were just standing and during timeouts you just mop the inside of the key.”
With the ability to get a close, first-hand look at 41 home Clippers games per season, Gee and Sayson get to be up close and personal with all the action happening in and around the spotlighted court.
“At first it was a bit intimidating because being affiliated with one of the biggest associations in the world is nerve-racking,” Sayson said. “But for the most part, the players have been super cool and respect us for what we do for them.”
There are so many unique personalities that surround the NBA scene. Players, coaches, celebrity spectators, body-painted fans all come either to put on or enjoy the show. So, there are bound to be some unforgettable experiences for ball boys to have.
Sayson remembers one humorous occasion when he witnessed a friend get dunked on by Kevin Durant — Oklahoma City Thunder small forward — while horsing around in warm-ups one game. He also has had an encounter with superstar Canadian rapper Drake sitting front row and witnessed an in-game dunk for the ages.
“I went up to Drake at halftime and asked if I [could] take a selfie with him. I got the picture,” Sayson said. “When [Clippers power forward] Blake Griffin dunked on [then Boston Celtics, current Washington Wizards power forward] Kris Humphries I was sitting right under the basket.”
Sayson recalls his favorite moment during his time working under the Clippers was one during warm-ups prior to a game against the Los Angeles Lakers with Lakers shooting guard Nick “Swaggy P” Young.
“Me and Swaggy P played one on one with each other,” Sayson said. “Then, two months later, he remembered me and came up to me to say, ‘What’s up?’.”
Gee is reminded of two happenstances that he finds funny to this day. One was a mishap that occurred while he was assisting coaches and players in warm-ups.
“I hit [then Thunder, current Atlanta Hawks shooting guard] Thabo Sefolosha in the head with a ball in a playoff game last year. I was standing under the basket throwing passes to the coaches and I threw one to a coach that was at the left wing area (the perspective under the basket) and he came out of nowhere and went up for a dunk and jumped straight into the ball,” Gee said.
The other instance was a good ol’ razzing by an NBA player.
“When the [Phoenix] Suns played last year I remember one player, [then Suns, current Orlando Magic power forward] Channing Frye, would go around to his teammates and say something and they would look at me and laugh and eventually he asked me if I’ve ever been called ‘Little Humphries’ because I look like him,” Gee said.
Gee states his favorite moment as a Clippers ball boy as a stunning buzzer-beating, game-winning, lucky roll, bank, three-point shot in overtime this past December.
“When Blake Griffin hit that three against the Suns this season, I was sitting right there on the court,” Gee said.
The Clippers are a surging franchise in sports following their two-billion dollar sale to Steve Ballmer this offseason and Gee and Sayson are excited to be a part of their rise.
“It definitely makes it more fun as the franchise gets more fans [and] in close games when it gets really loud,” Gee said.
The boys may just be tasked with passing balls and mopping up fluids, but they have learned worthwhile personal values that they will have for the rest of their lives during their tenure, according to Gee and Sayson.
“It helped me be more responsible because if we don’t take what we do seriously, a player could get seriously hurt,” Gee said. “Basically it puts other people’s safety in my hands.”