Meet ‘Super Dave,' Memphis basketball's good luck charm
David Price doesn't have a car. So before he tells you about how John Calipari changed his life back in 2005, or how he used to unlock the Finch Center at night for Penny Hardaway when Hardaway was still playing, or how he's almost certainly the most recognizable volunteer equipment manager in the Memphis basketball scene, David Price tells you about how he gets to and from Memphis basketball practice each day.
He used to take the bus. From South Memphis or East Memphis, where he lives with his aunt, to the Laurie-walton Family Basketball Center on campus. But at some point, Hardaway grew uncomfortable with Price taking the bus at night. He had almost been harassed a few times.
So Rasheed Wallace, when he was still an active assistant coach for the Tigers, was among those on staff who started taking turns driving Price home. They just can't always drive him to practice, or to games downtown at Fedexforum. It led Price to make yet another small sacrifice for the sake of an endeavor that sustains him.
“I decided to save my money up and Uber,” Price said. “It means a lot to me. I'm a huge fan and a dedicated one.”
The spirit of this civic institution, the way it brings generations of Memphians and their memories together under one roof, will return in full force Sunday when the Tigers attempt to stamp their ticket back to the NCAA Tournament against No. 14 Houston. Seated behind
the bench, or standing by the ball rack, will be a 37-year-old who embodies how important this can be to someone.
‘Super Dave’ is a good luck charm
If you don’t at least know Price’s face, you probably haven’t spent much time in a Memphis area basketball gym over the past 20 years. He is somehow connected to many of the people who helped craft the modern history of the sport in this city.
Ted Anderson, the legendary Memphis area high school coach, taught Price how to be a great basketball equipment manager at Hamilton High School. Price then served as a volunteer equipment manager under Calipari and Josh Pastner from 2005 through 2010, right there on the bench for the national championship game run.
Price met Hardaway around then, unlocking the program’s old practice facility late at night back when Hardaway was trying to keep his NBA career alive.
“It’s very important to have guys around that bleed blue,” Hardaway said, “that love this school, that love the staff, love the players and are willing to chip in wherever they can to make us successful.”
So Hardaway calls Price “Super Dave.” Keelon Lawson, whom Price helped at Hamilton and Wooddale High Schools in recent years, calls him a “locker room lawyer.” He has five championship rings from three different schools accumulated over 15 years.
“When he comes on your staff, I don’t know what it is, but you win a championship,” said William Anderson, the athletics director at Lemoyne-owen, where Price worked for about five seasons. “We were regular season champions with him (in 2012). He won with Memphis and (Calipari). Got over there with Penny and Penny won the NIT. David is definitely a good luck charm to have as part of your staff.”
It’s perhaps because he’ll do anything, and he’ll do it whether you pay him or not. That’s how important basketball is to him.
A dream and a promise realized
Price grew up in South Memphis raised by his grandmother, who died four years ago. His mom died when he was 10, and he doesn’t speak much to his father or brother anymore. His aunt helps support him now. He graduated from Hamilton High School in 2003 and took some classes at Memphis at one point. He preferred to keep many of the other details of his personal life vague.
Price fell in love with basketball through Hardaway and coach Larry Finch. His whole family loved Hardaway, especially. Price loved Finch because by then Finch was bigger, just like him. He looked at the screen and thought, “One day I’ll work for that team.”
Ivory Boykins, the former director of the Southside Boys and Girls Club and a mentor to Price, said Price was teased at times as a child for being different, and for not being very good at basketball. But he developed an encyclopedic knowledge of Memphis basketball history, especially in regard to Hamilton High. Price said he did this by looking through old yearbooks for research.
“He went places that these other guys who thought they were this and that in sports didn’t,” Boykins said. “To meet all these future professional athletes at the college level, that’s a feat within itself. I don’t know if there’s anybody who David has come past who didn’t admire him in some way.”
Price credits Anderson, who died in September, with teaching him how to be a responsible equipment manager. He particularly enjoys the nuances of setting up a gym for practice and working the electronic scoreboard, and the coaches and administrators he works under appreciate his eye for details and his reliability.
At Memphis, Price’s official duties are to help with the team’s food preparation at the Laurie-walton Family Basketball Center and serve alongside the program’s student managers during home games at Fedexforum.
“Dave’s the kind of guy you can put in the locker room, the guys trust him. He’s an encourager,” said Lawson, the father of current Tigers Chandler and Jonathan Lawson. “If the guys want the coach to know something, they knew David would help them.”
“When everybody’s gone, Dave’s the guy that’s there,” added Memphis deputy athletics director Jeff Crane. “There’s Dave cleaning up the locker room after the team left.”
“I make sure the locker room is a home for a player,” Price explained. “I take it seriously.”
It’s then that Price drives home the point. He tells you the story of how he asked Hardaway to rejoin the Memphis staff four years ago.
Hamilton and East High Schools were both playing in the state championship game in Murfreesboro, and the rumors of Hardaway’s impending hire at Memphis were flying.
Price wanted it to happen as much as anyone else in the city and told Hardaway as much. He also asked for a promise: “If you do become the coach, can I come back?”
“He didn’t say anything,” Price said. “He just shook his head, and that means yes.”