Down on the bottom floor of the William H. Bell Athletic Center, tucked between Calgaard Gymnasium and the elevator, is a room essential to the success of Trinity athletics. Behind its Dutch door are stacks of jerseys in every size and color, football helmets, baseball bats — almost all the sports equipment a Trinity athlete might need — and the smiling face of Quin Patterson, Trinity’s head athletic equipment manager. Patterson oversaw all equipment operations for Trinity’s 18 sports over the last 12 years, serving as the head manager for 11 of them.
Being an equipment manager comes with a plethora of responsibilities. Patterson manages the ordering of uniforms and equipment, keeping inventory, distribution of uniforms, athletics’ laundry system, providing equipment for practices and games, repair and maintenance of equipment and more. One of Patterson’s biggest jobs is helping coaches pack all team essentials before away trips. Each sport has its own needs; teams like Trinity football require extensive effort due to the amount of gear the team requires, particularly for travel.
“It’s all the little behind the scenes aspects of just to make sure that all the teams have what they need on,” Patterson said. “The athletes can just be athletes. Coaches can just be coaches. Athletic training staff can just be athletic trainers. Then they can be successful.”
Many schools at the Division III level don’t have specific equipment managers, according to Patterson, and he said that role instead falls on coaching staff or athletic directors. He gives a lot of credit for Trinity’s equipment management program to his former boss, Matt Saenz, the head equipment manager before him.
“Matt Saenz basically started the program here at Trinity; he built the equipment room,” Patterson said. “This is all his footprint. He built it.”
Patterson has made an impact on the program himself, though. In spring 2023, the Athletic Equipment Manager Association (AEMA) named him the Knight-Pickard, District VII Equipment Manager of the Year. He helped found the Mentorship and Engagement Committee with the national Athletic Equipment Managers Association, AEMA. AEMA helps equipment managers spread information and connect with others in the field in their area. Within AEMA, there are various committees. Among other things, the Mentorship and Engagement Committee has a program that pairs young members in the profession with their more experienced counterparts to help guide them in their early careers and have a known resource.
In the summer of 2021, the organization appointed Patterson to Membership Chair for District VII, which includes Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Colorado. This tasked Patterson with welcoming new members to the district, giving them our district director’s information and acting as a liaison for them if they need anything within the district or the AEMA as a whole. Patterson also serves as the DIII representative for the committee.
While Patterson always had a love for athletics, he didn’t plan on becoming an equipment manager.
“I thought I wanted to go the health route, maybe rehabilitation,” Patterson said. “I went through undergrad as a health science major, so when I was graduating I was l thinking about physical therapy and grad school.”
In the Spring of 2013, Patterson’s senior year at Hofstra University was coming to an end, and he began to look beyond the medical field.
“I had a friend who was a student manager for a Division I program,” Patterson said. “I thought it was kind of interesting, and I had never thought of that avenue. I reached out to him about his experience, and I started applying everywhere whether I was qualified or not. I always thought, ‘I’m young, I’ll come spend a year, and if I don’t really like it I could go back to physical therapy.’”
Patterson never went back to physical therapy. In August 2013, Trinity athletics hired Patterson as Matt Saenz’s assistant.
“In November or December, he [Saenz] told me he would be retiring at the end of the spring season,” Patterson said. “He said, ’If you’re interested, you can apply to become head [athletic equipment manager].”
Patterson applied and got the job and the rest is history. It’s been almost 11 full years since Patterson took over for Saenz.
“As taking it over and making my stamp on this, Matt, gave me a good baseline, but it’s been a lot of trial and error, a lot of learning throughout the years,” Patterson said. “I just came to find that I really love what I was doing.”
Patterson’s favorite part of the job has nothing to do with equipment, though.
“I love the people. At the end of the day, when athletes come back, and I’m talking to them, I’m not talking about the game that they played four or five years ago,” Patterson said. “This past weekend, I saw two alumni… He was a basketball player and she was a soccer player and they’re married now. I’d watched them since they were freshmen; they met each other here. Watching that growth, that’s what you end up talking about.”
Patterson’s work never stops. In the spring, it’s baseball, softball, track and tennis, but in the fall it will be soccer, football, cross country and volleyball again. With each incoming class, Patterson continues to leave his mark on Trinity athletics, one athlete at a time.
