| After 37 years as the equipment manager of the
Jets, you would think the retiring Bill Hampton would be able to come up with something
he’s not going to miss. Something that he’d like to wash his hands of and just
forget about. But Hampton has to think about the question for a moment before he offers up
an answer. "Well, I won’t miss the long road trips and then getting back at
four o’clock in the morning and having to unpack the equipment, that’s for
sure," Hampton said.
"I’m excited to be retiring and to be able to take it easy," he
continued. "Thirty-seven years is a long time to work, especially when you figure all
the training camps I've been through and (the fact that) I haven’t been able to spend
a summer at home with my family."
While he added that he is indeed looking forward to moving to Florida and playing a
little golf, it seems quite clear that this is a man who clearly will be out of his
element on Sundays when the leaves start changing next fall.
Hampton started out his career as a stickboy for the New York Rangers’ hockey
franchise in 1945, and he remained there until he took over as the Jets’ equipment
manager in ’64. The rest, as they say, is history. Some 37 years' worth of the stuff
behind the scenes that often gets as overlooked as the photographer’s name on a Playboy
spread.
Aside from the constant upkeep of the Jets’ apparel and locker rooms, Hampton and
his staff typically started packing for the weekend’s game by Wednesday. With the
size of teams continuing to grow, close to one-third of the gear is for coaches these
days.
"It’s a very demanding job," said Hampton, "and the people that
watch the game on Sunday have no idea what goes into preparing a team for a road
trip."
Preparing a team for a road trip also means preparing for weather. Every kind of
weather.
"Starting on Wednesday, we start calling the city we’ll be playing in and
start looking at the forecast in the papers and on TV so there isn’t a problem,"
Hampton said. "Usually we carry enough stuff to take care of us. We always carry rain
gear because in places like Miami, thunderstorms can roll in a minute."
It was Hampton who was responsible for setting the Jets up with pantyhose years ago in
an effort to stay warm in cold-weather NFL cities.
"That started when someone said, ‘Hey, when you see a lady standing on the
corner waiting for a bus and she’s got a skirt on and pantyhose on, she doesn’t
look like she’s that cold, and you never hear them complain about the cold,’ so
I thought, well, if it works on a lady, it must work on men too," Hampton said.
"So we proceeded to get them, and naturally it was a lot different from the ladies
wearing them because we had guys weighing 250 and 275 pounds."
But it worked for those who accepted the change, and the pantyhose experiment even got
Hall of Fame QB Joe Namath a commercial endorsement. Hampton and his wife also devised the
first jerseys with a pocket sewn in.
Eight different U.S. presidents have served during Hampton’s stint with the Jets,
and he’s seen thousands of players don the green and white. While the players have
gotten bigger and faster and the conditioning is so much more a part of the game, the
biggest change over the years, according to Hampton, is probably the money factor.
"The players of yesteryear unfortunately didn’t make the money they’re
making today, and when the season was over, they also had to find a job to support their
family."
Imagine that for a moment. Hard to, isn’t it?
"At one point this was a seasonal job too," he said of his equipment manager
gig. "You worked from training camp until December, and then you had to look for a
job at the end of the season.
"Naturally now it’s really a full-time job because of all the strength and
conditioning programs and minicamps and whatnot. The only time you get off really is
January, but even in January you’re busy ordering equipment, so you’re really
not off. You really can’t take a vacation until June right before training
camp."
While the money has changed the game, Hampton says it hasn’t necessarily changed
the players. They’re still a good group of guys who are your friends and can enjoy a
few laughs with you. They just may not be around as long.
"Years ago, guys stayed with a team a lot longer than they do now," he said.
"Every day, you knew what he wanted, what he did, when he did it. We used to go out
with our wives to dinner and stuff like that. We had a great relationship."
Hampton also has managed to have a great relationship with his family despite his busy
schedule. All five of his sons have worked under him at one point. Clay will take over for
him in New York, Drew is currently the equipment manager in Jacksonville and Bill Jr. is
the operations director with the Browns. Just call the Hamptons the first family of
football.
In all his time getting football gear to and fro, Hampton remembers only two instances
in which something went awry. One was a stolen Namath jersey in Kansas City.
"Fortunately I knew if they were going to take one, it would be his, so I had a
backup for him.
"Another time we had a preseason game in Cincinnati, and they stole like 10
jerseys. We had to borrow some from the University of Cincinnati."
Hampton says he’ll miss the camaraderie with the players. The joking, the talking,
the fact he’s associated with something so big and doing a job so important.
He also said he’ll miss waking up on a Sunday morning and going to the stadium and
laying out the jerseys in the lockers. Just like any true football fan would. |
