IN THE SPOTLIGHT
With the deadCenter festival set to begin, we feature the Thunder's film about employee Marc St. Yves
Marc St. Yves has long shied away from the spotlight. Forty years of working behind the scenes had conditioned him to stay there.
So when he was asked to be the subject of a documentary, St. Yves was short.
“I think my exact words were `bleep no,'” said the man they call Saint. “No chance. There's no way I'm doing this. This is what you do at the end of your career.”
He was eventually
persuaded.
“The Everyday Saint” will premiere online Thursday as part of Oklahoma City's 20th annual deadCenter Film Festival. The 23- minute feature, from OK C Thunder Films, chronicles a career that' s unmatched in the
Thunder organization.
St. Yves started in the NBA on Oct. 3, 1 979, as a 13-year-old ball boy for the Super Sonics. His parents still have the ticket from that night, a preseason doubleheader at Seattle's Kingdome. “NO CHARGE” is printed in bold.
St. Yves, a Seattle native, became the Super Sonics' equipment manager in 1984. A decade later he was facility manager. Then, in 2008, St. Yves joined the franchise in relocating to Oklahoma City.
Now 53 and living in Edmond, St. Yves is the Thunder's vice president of logistics and engagement.
He manages equipment, organizes travel and does the laundry and everything in between.
Or as Russell Westbrook put it, St. Yves is the “runner of s---.”
Westbrook, Nick Collison, Steven Adams and Andre Roberson were interviewed for the documentary along with Sam Presti, Billy Donovan, Scott Brooks and Maurice Cheeks.
“I could see in all their eyes how much we connected over the years,” St. Yves said after watching the film. “That meant a lot.”
Matt Tumble son, vice president of basketball communications and engagement, and
Dan Mahoney, vice president of broadcasting and corporate communications, are the executive producers of the film.
“The Everyday Saint” is the fifth project under the OKCThunder Films platform, which is a partnership between the Thunder's broadcasting and communications departments.
It's the third Thunder film to be featured at the deadCenter Film Festival, which will be held virtually this year.
The idea to tell St. Yves' story was born on a bus in Portland last season when the Thunder was riding back from a practice or shootaround during their playoff series against the Trail Blazers.
Previous Thunder films had featured players.
“I think that Saint, of anyone, exemplifies what our place is about — the hard work, the commitment, the want to get better every single day,” Tumbleson said. “If you want to know what the Thunder's about, it's that guy.”
St. Yves hasn't missed a game in the last 30 years. Including summer league, preseason, regular season, and playoffs, it's a streak of approximately 3,000 games.
“I can't say that I didn't tough out a few days,” St. Yves said.
The streak has also meant hundreds of nights away from home. Marc's wife, Karie, and their son, Skylar, were interviewed for the film. When Skylar was a toddler, he had a map of the U.S. as a placemat on his high chair. His mom could always show him where dad was.
“All the great games, the great people, all of that, that's fantastic,” St. Yves said. “But just making sure my family knew that I appreciated them sticking with me for all these years. That was the most important thing.”
For someone who's seen everything imaginable in the NBA, the last three months and next three months of St. Yves' job might be worth a sequel.
St. Yves remembers locking eyes with Chris Paul during the unforgettable moments of March 11 at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
“Saint, have you ever seen any s--- like this before?” Paul asked him.
St. Yves was one of the few in the arena who had been in the NBA longer than Paul.
“We just had no idea what was going on,” St. Yves said Tuesday.
St. Yves has since added “hygiene officer” to his title. It's his job to keep the Thunder's practice facility as safe as possible to protect players from contracting COVID-19 when they arrive for individual workouts.
“There's no playbook for it,” St. Yves said. “Nobody has ever been through this before in pro sports, at least in my lifetime.”
St. Yves described this period as the most challenging of his career.
Every inch of the practice facility has been sanitized. Masks have been made from old uniforms and warmups. St. Yves has quickly become an expert in cleaning chemicals.
“It's quite the experience,” he said.
The Thunder and 21 other teams will resume the season July 31 at Disney World. It's a trip not even a master of logistics could plan for.
But St. Yves, as documented in the film, has 40 years of experience to draw from.
A past move filled with unknowns, from Seattle to Oklahoma City, might work as a loose guide for what awaits.
“I'm kind of equating it with `08 because there was so much to be done in such a short period of time,” St. Yves said. “And again, there was really no playbook for what we were able to pull off that summer.”