Hawks equipment team preserves history inside State Farm Arena, one signature at a time

Deep in the underbelly of State Farm Arena lies a time capsule.

Among the tubs of laundry detergent, dryer sheets, washing machines and dryers are names of NBA players past and present lining the walls of the team’s 35x20 square foot laundry room. Fans may recognize some of the names of Hawks legends, who accomplished plenty during their tenure with the team. They’ll also recognize the names of NBA All-Stars, who participated in the scaled-down version of the event in 2021.

The Hawks’ Director of Team Operations Zac Walsh and Assistant Equipment Manager Tim Wilson began putting up the nameplates of these players on the laundry room’s wall last year. They’ve only collected the signatures of players who no longer wear a Hawks uniform, as well as the players who participated in the 2021 NBA All-Star festivities.

“Our rule is you can’t get anybody to sign when they’re with you,” Walsh said.

Each nameplate, in some ways, commemorates some of the different eras of the Hawks over the last 12 or so years. The oldest nameplate in this collection dates back to the 2008-09 season and includes names like Maurice Evans, Othello Hunter, Randolph Morris and Flip Murray.

Sometimes equipment managers from opposing teams go into the laundry room to take care of their team’s equipment and express shock at some of the names lining the walls. It has also inspired other teams, though Walsh and Wilson are not the first to do something like this.

“The guy in New York, we just went in his equipment room the other day and he had three hanging up,” Wilson said. “Like because he saw ours and because three guys got traded.”

It began with four signatures and those nameplates hang to the left of the door of the laundry room heading into Walsh’s office. Former Hawks forward Jabari Parker, who currently plays for FC Barcelona in Spain, was the first signature Wilson collected.

The other three include Vince Carter, Jeff Teague and Damian Jones.

“I think the fact that the Hawks get former players to sign their name tag on the lockers is pretty cool,” Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu said. “I know two days ago, Zac, he didn’t know I was listening, but I remember him saying or telling somebody that, the Skyhawks were playing Celtics and Tony Snell used to play here. He’s only here for a year but Zac still wanted him to get that signature. I think it’s kind of dope that Zac always does that for everybody that comes through here.”

Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

To collect the signatures, they sometimes look ahead at the schedule to plan out their course of action. Sometimes they grab them when they come to town. But the majority of the time, they lean on teamwork to chase down former players, who now coach or have front-office positions in the NBA.

“Oh, we just got Tony Snell,” said Walsh as Xavier McKenzie, one of the team’s ball boys, brought the nameplate in.

Snell, who played for the Hawks from 2020-21, played for the Maine Celtics, the G League affiliate of the Celtics on Thursday. So, they took that chance to grab his signature while he was in town.

“Everybody helps here,” Walsh said

“He said he misses you guys,” McKenzie said.

“We see where we can find them,” Walsh said.

The laundry room currently has about 200 nameplates that practically cover every inch of wall space. It includes the names of players who played for the team for multiple seasons — like Joe Johnson; maybe just a couple of months — like Moe Harkless; or even just one game — like Rasheed Wallace.

But the two brushed off jokes that the laundry room could be one of the most valuable rooms in State Farm Arena.

“There’s gotta be a room with like, four 70-inch TVs in the arena,” Wilson said.

For now, they think they’ve captured autographs of everyone still playing in the NBA. They may have a couple of players logging minutes in the G League, whether with the Skyhawks or the affiliates of other teams.

While Walsh and Wilson know they may not get the signature of every player whose nameplate hangs on the wall, it won’t stop them from trying.

They grabbed John Collins’ autograph when the former Hawks came to town with the Jazz last month. They plan to grab Patty Mills’ autograph when the Heat come to town next week on Tuesday.

Walsh and Wilson keeping the players’ nameplates brings up fond memories when they approach them, ready for them to sign it. When the two got former Hawks forward Marvin Williams to sign his nameplate, the former second overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft couldn’t believe Walsh and Wilson held onto it.

“Marvin Williams went crazy,” Walsh said. “(He said) ‘You still have this? You guys remember me like that?’ Marvin was so cool about it like he was impressed that we wanted his signature.”

Walsh and Wilson cultivate relationships with players throughout the season. They spend countless hours with them, helping with equipment from practice shirts and jerseys down to socks.

“Tim and I are around them all the time,” Walsh said. “It’s like our family during the season.”

Though they’ve already filled the current laundry room wall, they have no plans of stopping. They’ll just move on to the next room, Walsh’s office. The nameplates have shrunk, though, with lockers becoming smaller. But they plan to keep going.

“Nobody’s ever said, ‘no,’ except maybe A(Anthony) D(avis),” Walsh said.

The plan is for the nameplates and signatures to live in the State Farm Arena laundry room, where they will continue to commemorate the names of the players who represented the franchise.