Game day ready: Al Cerbe ’09 keeps the ’Cats organized and ready to go as head football equipment manager
Al Cerbe ’09 loves football.
He loves thinking about football, strategizing about football, and talking about football.
He loves football so much that as a teenager, he wanted something more than watching
the game from the stands or on TV. He wanted to be a part of the action.
First, he considered getting into coaching, but when he had an opportunity during
his senior year of high school to start working in equipment management, he knew he’d
found his passion.
Cerbe is now entering his 18th season at K-State and his 14th as the head football
equipment manager. His love for his work, attention to detail, and expert organizational
skills ensure the Wildcats are ready for every practice and game day.
Equipment managers are used to juggling long to-do lists: from taking care of laundry
post game; arranging knee and shoulder pad fittings; providing cleats and apparel;
ensuring players’ lockers are stocked and ready; sanitizing helmets; and more.
"I like things organized, I like things clean," Cerbe says of his personal philosophy. "I'm kind of particular in those ways. From day one, whether it was the equipment room in my high school, which was a closet, to the equipment room at the junior college, it was making sure things were tidy, organized and presentable."
He attended Northeast Mississippi Community College and said his early experiences
provided lots of opportunities for hands-on learning.
“My coaches were great, because they trusted us to get things done,” he said. “It
was really interesting, that learning process.”
He gained even more experience while working for the University of Memphis and the
arena football team the Memphis Xplorers, as well as an internship with the Baltimore
Ravens.
“We were very successful,” he recalls of his time with the Memphis Xplorers. “My first
year, we went to the Arena Cup Championship and won. It was an awesome time.”
When an opportunity arose to interview for an assistant equipment manager position
at K-State, he decided to go for it. And he’s been a proud Wildcat ever since, completing
his degree here. He said he’s forever grateful to legendary football coach Bill Snyder
for promoting him to head football equipment manager in 2011.
“I've been in my seat trying to keep up with the equipment world, the trends, and
continuing to keep the players safe and protected, whether it's from the helmet to
the shoes.”
He’s witnessed a rapid growth of technology, such as the ability to digitally scan
players to provide even more precise measurements.
He also manages a team of two full-time staff members and 12 student staff who help
keep the Wildcats’ equipment in tip-top shape.
“We hit the ground running on practice each and every day, ensuring that everything's
organized,” he said. “It's a lot of hours, it's a lot of work. There can be the pressure
of knowing what a coach needs and setting it up, as well as cleaning it up and getting
ready for another drill. And it's no easy task. You have to be very adaptive in this
profession. There's a lot of multitasking in this job.”
Cerbe’s day-to-day tasks vary based on the time of year and day of the week. Some
days he’ll spend time checking in equipment from the last game day, scheduling meetings,
working on the budget, or ordering gear (which needs to happen months in advance).
It might be an early start or a late night.
“We divide out our mornings; someone's always here at 5:30 in the morning getting
ready for the 6 a.m. lift,” he said.
Cerbe and his team’s game day duties start about five and a half hours prior to kickoff,
before the gates open to the public. While they’ve handled some of the set up the
day before, they’ll stay busy double-checking the locker room, passing out gloves
to players, making sure the headsets and helmet radios are good to go, helping put
pads on players, and so on. There are plenty of little details to manage, such as
the rule that two players with the same jersey number cannot be on the field at the
same time. So Cerbe and his team have pullover jerseys ready to go in case a swap
needs to be made.
Once the crowd of fans starts departing from the stadium after the game ends, Cerbe’s
work day continues. There’s postgame laundry (lots and lots of laundry).
“The joke in the equipment world is once you're in this equipment world, you'll never
see a game the same in your life,” Cerbe says.
Cerbe’s dedication to his work recently was recognized on a national level by the
Athletic Equipment Managers Association. He received the Glenn Sharp Award, recognizing
the Equipment Manager of the Year.
“I’m humbled by the fact that I try to come in every day and do my best and get better,”
he said. “That's the philosophy I always have is, there's some area to get better.
I still feel like a fish out of water sometimes, just because there's so much that
goes on in this profession. There's so much I want to do.”
Whatever is ahead for the ’Cats this upcoming football season, Cerbe will be there
to make sure the players are able to perform at the highest level. He said that K-State
and the Manhattan community are deeply loved by him and his family. His wife, Danielle
Young Cerbe ’11, is also a K-Stater, and their three children, Adeline (7), Asher
(4) and Ainslee (2), all love to spend time in the equipment room.
"I've been blessed with a phenomenal career here," he said. "I'm extremely blessed. It's special to work at my alma mater. I had never been to Kansas or knew much about K-State before coming for the job. It's now a special place for me and my family for many reasons."