Keeper, provider of Jags’ athletics

Derek Price really knows what it’s like to be the first one to arrive for work and 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 also 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 would start before the sun arises and may 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 everything with the aid of one full-time assistant and five students.
Price said from time to time he goes into locker rooms to change out shoes. A baseball player may love to wear his shoes until they are worn thin, Price said. But the shoe with a hole in it may 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 significant and 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 since, to perform communication operations for coaches. He was on the sidelines at Super Bowl XL in Detroit last month.
“I just got back,” Price said. “I’m pretty decent at what I do. I’m not tooting my own horn.”