What it takes to keep Warriors on the road
Eric Housen should be sleeping or at least resting. But he’s probably not.
Housen is the Golden State Warriors’ director of team services, a nebulous title that doesn’t adequately describe his job responsibilities. He is the equipment manager, event planner, traveling secretary, concierge, catering director, luggage handler – one those unheralded, behind-the-scenes employees who will never get credit for a victory but a person who is necessary and makes life easier on players and staff.
“I’m not blessed with any great skill like these guys,” Housen said. “The only thing I’ve been blessed with is the ability to work a lot of hours.”
Coming off a 14-day, seven-game road trip, Housen is in the middle of a three-day stretch with no Warriors games. He said last week he planned to rest and catch up on sleep early this week.
“I do get tired," he said. "I just don’t want to let anyone down. I don’t want anyone’s routine affected in terms of their preparation for the game.”
Near the end of this road trip, he barely slept, getting shuteye here and there – in his room, on a flight, on the bus from the airport to the hotel.
“I can sleep anywhere,” he said.
On Friday, he awoke at 5:30 a.m. and shortly after, dropped off practice gear at each player’s hotel room, leaving the gear in a laundry bag on the door.
Is he worried anyone will steal the gear?
“I’ve lost one or two bags since 1999,” said Housen who started with the team as 12-year-old ballboy in 1986. “It is sitting there for about two hours, but my whole thing is to make it convenient for the guys when they wake up in the morning. Some guys get up and lift. Some guys go straight to shootaround. I want them to have their gear there.”
He then helped load a truck headed for Boston’s TD Garden full of other equipment (uniforms, shoes, tape, athletic sandals, trainer’s necessities, and video equipment) and started getting ready for Golden State’s game against the Celtics.
After the morning shootaround, Housen went back to the hotel, collected those equipment bags and made sure players’ personal luggage were on the truck that follows the team bus to the airport for a late-night trip to Milwaukee.
Housen made sure every piece of luggage, every equipment bag, every shoe and jersey were on the plane – it’s more than 215 bags – and when the plane landed in Milwaukee, he helped load all that onto another truck. He ensured players had their luggage, and he went to arena around 2:45 in the morning and set up the visitor’s locker room.
He returned to his hotel room in Milwaukee around 5 a.m., slept for a few hours and got up to see if the hotel staff had breakfast stations (omelet, waffle and smoothie) ready for players.
This particular trip included more uniform bags because Golden State brought four uniforms – home and away, gray short-sleeved and the city jerseys. And there’s a backup uniform in case there’s blood on a uniform or another issue. So it’s really eight uniforms for each player.
Players also like their shoes. Housen said the average is about four pairs per player. Warriors All-Star guard Curry had 16 on this trip.
“I have the most shoes for Steph but he prefers I don’t bring them all. But I bring them just in case,” Housen said. “He tells me don’t bring them. He’s a pretty low-maintenance guy. With his marketing deal with Under Armour, I want to make sure I have everything covered.”
After games, Housen arranges food for players to eat in the locker room or bring with them on the bus or plane. If the team is staying overnight in a city, Housen asks players where they want to eat.
In Indianapolis, the team went to St. Elmo Steak House. In Charlotte, he asked Curry where to go and he picked Mert’s Heart and Soul.
“They really like to be with each other,” Housen said.