Sports > November 29, 2007

By Blake Holt | Contributing writer

Head Men’s Basketball Manager junior Justin Snow spent more of his high school days playing football than on the basketball court, and by the looks of it, the gritty 6’ 3” North Carolina native wouldn’t be out of place setting up on Wake’s offensive line.

OGB Video: Jeezy

Snow in the locker room, at practice. Click to play.

But this jovial big man, who the university’s men’s basketball team has deemed “Jeezy” after the platinum-selling rapper, spends his time in Winston-Salem at the basketball facilities ... about 50 hours a week that is.

He was a freshman when he found out the men’s basketball program was offering tryouts to be a manger of the team. “I went out for it and all of a sudden that Christmas break I’m over here in Trent Strickland’s room (’06) playing video games. It was crazy.”

Last year he was promoted to the head manager position in which he leads six other managers in their efforts to take care of all the little things needed to maintain the basketball program. “You try to not get caught up in being a fan,” Snow said. “Sometimes that’s hard, but we just try and do our job and do what we’re supposed to do.”

Snow, who hails from High Point, NC., grew up a Wake fan his whole life. “My grandma was class of ’69, so, living close by, I was up in the Joel since I was a little kid,” he said. When answering how to describe himself, he said that if you know what he does with the team, you pretty much know all you need to know about him. It’s a full-time job, and after clocking over five hours a day, not including games and traveling, he puts in more time than many Division I athletes.

Before Wake, he was a high school football player and a huge college basketball fan. “I was stuck trying to decide between UNC and Wake for college,” he said. But ultimately he came to the place he had been loyal to since childhood.

“I’ll never forget, I was in the Pit and I saw Kyle Visser come in and hang up a flyer,” he said, remembering the day early freshman year that he learned about the opportunity with the team. “When I came to the first meeting there was like 70 of us.”

It was the year after former player Chris Paul’s last season, and many students had interest in the job. Snow was just one of four managers hired.

Snow said he came in not knowing what to expect and how he was surprised at how much the managers are really a part of the program. “We started out with a meeting to talk about what to do and don’t do,” he said. “One of the things on the list was respecting the managers; ‘they’re not your lackeys’ is what they told everyone.”

He has a lot of gratitude for the coaches. “They really care about the managers,” he said. Since that first semester, Snow took off on a two-year roller coaster ride. He’s had memories that he’ll never forget: all the highs and lows. “It’s funny because you really feel the losses,” he said, “You can’t know what it feels like to lose in the ACC until you’re on that bus after the game. There’s a lot of pressure to perform around here.”

With a program such as Wake’s Snow has certainly experienced the highs. Particularly memorable moments include running through the tunnel behind Eric Williams ‘06, before the Duke game in the Joel Coliseum during the ‘05-’06 season.

He’ll also never forget coming in for his initial interview and seeing Head Coach Skip Prosser. After being in awe, he was blown away by the many instances when Prosser would ask him how classes were going.

“I’ll never forget that kind of thing,” he said.

Of course he’s not merely watching, he’s performing a list of responsibilities. The players will tell you the managers aren’t just towel boys.

“Jeezy will run the clock and do some rebounding,” said junior David Weaver. “But we’ll throw him into the drills from time to time too. He’s a big man so the assistant coaches aren’t afraid to ask ol’ Jeezy to come in and rough some of us guys up.”

But on a day-to-day basis it’s not exactly a glamorous job. Snow shows up an hour before practice to put the balls, the equipment, the playbooks, the practice agendas and everything in place. “Most important is the bubble gum,” he said. “It’s not practice without it.”

“We clean up everything, we gather up equipment and we make sure everything is returned at the end of the day.”

The same kind of tasks get done on game day, but for these he’ll make a trip to the Joel Coliseum after class and then, one way or another, he always gets back there again two hours before game time to set up for opposing team and even get the referees’ things ready.

As head manager, he’s taken on more organizational responsibilities. Included in this, he’s not ashamed to say, is being “team mom.” A female manager organized meals in previous years. Since she has been abroad, he’s taken her place as the “bearer of food.”

“We got the pre-game meal,” Snow said, “and I never had really thought about it before, but you got to have a meal after the game too.”

As he’s gotten older, he’s naturally become an authority to those underneath him. “He’s kind of like the head man,” Weaver said. “He gets to boss them around a little bit. It’s kind of funny.”

Part practice partner, part water boy, part secretary, part lunch lady, Snow certainly wears many hats, one of which is certainly part teammate. “These managers are a part of the team,” said junior Harvey Hale.

“They’re part of the family,” said sophomore L.D. Williams. “They go everywhere we go and do everything we do.”

“A lot of programs, you see them kind of abusing their managers,” Weaver said, “it’s not like that here.”

They describe Snow as dedicated and down to earth. “He’s a friendly guy,” Weaver said. “He really will do about anything to make a sacrifice for the team.”

As for the name Jeezy? Weaver explained it, but before he did he repeated the name, stretching it out for emphasis as he sets up the story, which is apparently a much-referenced tale. “We had Justin Snow and then we had Justin Gray on the team right?” he said. “You’d be hearing the name Justin all the time. During that year, you know, that 'Young Jeezy' song was really popular,” referencing the single “Soul Survivor” by Akon from 2006. “In the song, Young Jeezy keeps calling himself ‘the snow man.’ We’re just like ‘Hey, Justin’s name is Snow too’. He was Jeezy from then on out.”

Through it all, Snow said, he knows he’s experienced things that he will always remember. As he’s saying this, he sits in the lounge that connects to the men’s basketball locker room. From his leather chair, he faces the 100-inch projector used for game films and is surrounded by images of Mugsy Bogues, Tim Duncan, Chris Paul, as well as Skip “Prosserisms” painted on the walls around room.

“I’ve always had the philosophy that everybody should be a part of something bigger than themselves,” Snow said. “I know everything about this team, and I kind of take pride in it in a way.”

“I’ve loved college basketball forever so to be a part of something like this, it’s just kind of a dream come true.”