That's a good question. I actually can go back a little bit further, and there's three things in my mind that guided me to where I began my career. I think the first thing I can vividly remember as early as seven or eight, getting up a little bit earlier than your traditional kid, and being excited to go grab the sports section from the newspaper. Back then, there wasn't internet, so I would literally pour through every baseball box score.
I find that interest similar to what you do in the early days of sports information. As an entry level Sports Information professional, you statistics and archives. So from a very early age, I was clearly intrigued by statistics.
The second part was, I grew up working in my father’s silk screening shop. One of the areas I was able to differentiate myself, was my ability to not only do the traditional communications work, but understanding Photoshop and other Adobe programs. I was willing and able to do more that write recaps and keep stats and I wanted to contribute creatively. My dad's silk screening shop taught me, indirectly, the basics of how Photoshop works. It taught me the basics of layering items and building different colors on top of each other.
And then the third thing was, and I wish this for every sports management student in college, I decided to take on sports management my minor in my junior year of college. The first class we had was taught by Professor Al Ferrer at UC Santa Barbara. The first week of that class described every job you can have in professional, collegiate and then amateur high school sports, and here are the skills you need for those. One of those areas was sports information. I literally went after that first week of classes, and said to the sports information office in the Athletic Department at UC Santa Barbara, “hey I want to intern, this sounds like fun.”
So I wish that every college student could get a clear and concise look at the potential work opportunities, because it helps set a direction. It helps you find some interest instead of trial and error. I've got to give a bunch credit to Professor Ferrer for guiding me as a 20, 21 year old to where I am today.
No, I didn't intern until my junior year. I worked part-time jobs since I was 16, then decided to intern as a junior in college, which is probably later than I would recommend for students now.
How fun.. did you intern through your entire college program at UC?
So let's step back a little bit...
When I was about 11, I needed money for baseball cards, and my dad owns his own business. Around the age of 20, my father took over the family business and has owned it since. It's a silk screening shop. So, making T-shirts, putting ink and designs on a myriad of materials. Once I ran out of allowance money, and wanted to buy more baseball cards, my father put me to work. I had to come in the 90 degree heat and work in my shop during the summer. I was doing that at 11 or 12, maybe a little bit earlier. And as I've grown, I've found that my father and I have a lot of the same professional characteristics and it's been fun to sit back and recognize those.
What was your first paying job?
So you graduate from University of California, and at that point, is that when you moved to Oklahoma to start your first role in sports ?
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