What's In A Name? - April 2008
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You Are What You Eat
Ready for the Unexpected?
Knit Beanies
Punch List
Pat Walker Interview on Gameops.com
PWP President Pat Walker joins Gameops.com for the March 2008 interview. Pat is a veteran Game Operations Director in the NBA who recently started his own consulting business. Find out how Pat got started along with tips for rookies and veterans in the game operations industry. Also look for upcoming guest columns from Pat on Gameops.com.
Gameops.com: What's your background in game operations and presentation?
Pat Walker: I spent the past six and a half years working in game operations and event production for the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics and WNBA's Seattle Storm. My career path began at the University of Washington with a degree in business and following graduation, I took a full-time internship with U S West (now Qwest Communications) to be the assistant in their Event & Sponsorship Marketing group. I then spent a year and a half as an Account Manager at an event merchandising company, where my primary client was the Seahawks.
And then came my break- in the summer of 2001, I accepted a position with the Seattle Sonics & Storm as a Game Operations Assistant. As a Game Operations Coordinator in 2003, I earned the opportunity to direct games for the Storm. I was the lowest title to ever call games within the organization, but I was ready for the challenge and by the end of my second Storm season, I was on headset orchestrating the crowd as the team charged through the playoffs en route to the 2004 WNBA Championship.
Over the next year and a half, I climbed the ladder quickly- having been promoted to Assistant Manager following the WNBA Finals and then to Manager of Operations & Event Production in the summer of 2005, where I had the chance to manage a staff and learn the budget and hiring process.
The hard work paid off when I was promoted to the Director level in May 2006 and created the Events & Entertainment department. My group was responsible for Sonics & Storm game presentation, game operations logistics, event production (from Season Ticket Holder parties to press conferences), video production, mascots (Squatch, Doppler) and performance groups (Sonics Dance Team, Boom Squad, Dunking Ushers and Storm Dance Troupe).
By the time I wrapped up my tenure with the Sonics & Storm, I had planned, produced and worked over 400 games, 250 events, eight major ceremonies (including jersey retirements for Spencer Haywood and Gus Williams) and one ESPN Opening Night game where the horn malfunctioned and blared for seven minutes straight- while yours truly raced to the apex of KeyArena to shut it down...but that's a really long story with a lot of other characters, so I'll save that one for the book I'm planning to write some day.
Gameops.com: How'd you come to the decision to leave the Sonics and start your own business?
Pat Walker: I started my internship with U S WEST two days after I graduated from UW and I immediately began an eight-year run of 50-80 hour work weeks. I rarely took vacations, in large part because an NBA and WNBA franchise requires a year-round season. For the first few years working at the Sonics & Storm, I thought I'd be there my entire career and I was going to work as hard as I could to move up the ladder. And then, a series of events happened that completely changed my outlook on life.
With the Olympics taking place in August 2004, the WNBA season was suspended for a month and the playoffs moved to October, which was simultaneous with Sonics Media Day and Training Camp. As the Storm moved through the playoffs, KeyArena filled up to the point that they removed the upper bowl curtain and sold every seat in the house for both Finals home games.
On October 12, Game 3 between the Storm and Connecticut Suns came down to a final defensive stop with a two-point lead and as I set up the scenarios with the crew over headset, one call I made was "Standby confetti." I looked down and read a 109 on my decibel meter as the ref prepared to hand the ball off for the inbounds- which is basically like standing next to a jet engine. The pass went baseline right and the three-point attempt was a touch long. As the clock expired I exclaimed into the headset "Go confetti!"
The organization had a big party that night, but I was taking it easy because I had a championship parade to plan and a Sonics pre-season game in three days. After a couple hours of hanging out, I made my rounds through the room with congratulatory remarks and then headed home to get some sleep.
I took my time in the morning, basking in the October sun and taking my car in for service. And then, on my way to the office in a loaner car, my world flipped upside down. I got a call from my wife with news that her brother had been in a motorcycle accident and we needed to get to the hospital. When we got there, we found out that he wasn't going to make it.
It's amazing how fast your priorities can change- just twelve hours ago, I was experiencing the pinnacle moment of my professional career, but that morning, I didn't care about any of it- someone else would need to worry about the parade and the pre-season game, it wasn't even on my list of priorities. And over the years that followed, I re-examined my career goals.
Ironically, as I quietly began to look at other avenues, I was being promoted at a fairly rapid rate. I was also having a very difficult time identifying other places of employment that would create the satisfaction and adrenaline rush that is difficult to match outside the world of sports.
In March 2007, I was exposed to an entrepreneurial spirit I never knew I had in me. A start-up minor league basketball team in the area had been out to shadow the Sonics in-arena show behind the scenes. Following a couple of these sessions, the team's GM approached me about helping them build their game presentation set-up. As I entertained the idea as a part-time concept, I also began to think about the long-term potential of it. I registered Pat Walker Productions as an LLC and got a business license and while the deal with the minor league team didn't come to fruition, I had still taken the important steps in setting up the basic structure.
After sitting on the idea for a couple of months, I decided that I wanted to give this thing a shot at being my sole focus. I met with my boss and the team President to let them know of my plans. I also expressed a desire to work closely with them to find my successor and hand off the reigns in smooth fashion. Over the next six months, I balanced an effort to get PWP off the ground while methodically bringing my Sonics & Storm chapter to a close and passing over the book.
Looking back at it all, I see how every step of the way shaped me and set me up to fully appreciate the opportunity I have now. The thing I'm most proud of is that I can say I left on the best of terms and I still have many strong friendships at that organization- the front office of sports organizations provide an atmosphere that is like no other, you truly become teammates.
NBA All-Star by the NumbersWhat's In A Name? - April 2008
Debra Belinsky & Cheryl Benson-Guanci of DCB Productions
Ready for the Unexpected?
Traditions
Eco-Write Journals
