Mendez Represents NSU Proudly – While Gaining Invaluable Experience – At First-Ever NBA HBCU Fellowship

The first week of a new internship can be a slow-paced, tedious period filled with introductions and stale tasks in the local office.

Anthony Mendez experienced a slightly altered opening week. Instead of filling out spreadsheets over cups of coffee, he was thrown straight into a 20-thousand seat arena preparing to host a house full of legends for an NBA Finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors.

The Norfolk State student and men’s basketball manager represented the Spartans this summer during the inaugural NBA HBCU Fellowship, a 10-week paid internship program across the Association’s 30 teams. Only 60 students were chosen for the fellowship from a pool of over 2,700 applicants.

A native of Boston, Mass., Mendez had grown up watching the Celtics play, so it felt like a perfect fit when the program assigned him to the hometown team. The three-month period would shape the way he views his future and capabilities, and the impact he can have on the Spartans’ basketball program this season.

“I made connections that I’ll probably have for a lifetime,” Mendez said. “I met a lot of great people there that are willing to stay in my life after this opportunity.”

Mendez can thank a fellow Bostonian for recruiting him to Norfolk State in the first place. NSU forward Dana Tate Jr. grew up just a few minutes away from Mendez, the two becoming close friends during high school from frequent pickup basketball sessions at the local YMCA. 

The pair went separate ways to pursue their respective collegiate interests – Tate playing basketball at Rhode Island and Siena, while Mendez managed at Hartford. But the buddies’ paths reconnected a few years later as they sought new destinations. The Spartans offered Tate a spot on their roster, eventually leading Mendez to come to Norfolk as well.

“I brought up the idea that we should go to school together and it worked out,” Tate said. “I wanted him by my side because that’s my man and I know he has my best interests in mind, and I knew what he was looking for too.”

With Tate and Mendez both carving out their own roles within the Spartan basketball program, the former said they hold each other accountable on and off the court.

“He tells me what I need to do and what I’m doing well,” Tate said. “I do the same for him. We make sure we’re on top of our work.”

Just a few weeks before the 2021-22 season began, the NBA and NBA foundation announced the HBCU Fellowship, a program that aims to provide valuable career development opportunities in basketball to students from HBCUs. 

When Norfolk State Associate Head Coach Jamal Brown discovered the fellowship, he immediately shared it with the team. Mendez expressed interest in pursuing the highly competitive opportunity, and Brown knew he’d be a strong fit.

After putting together a precise, well-rounded application, Mendez eventually found out that he'd moved on to the interview stage of the process. Realizing he had a very legitimate chance at landing the position over 2,000 applicants sought, he went to Brown for advice on presenting his best self.

“I told him to be authentic.” Brown said. “The great thing about Anthony is he has a great personality. I told him to be himself, smile, and really take his experiences as a manager and present those for the opportunity.”

A couple of months later, after Norfolk State had conquered a second consecutive MEAC Championship, Mendez finally received the news he’d been hoping for. He would be a summer fellow for the Boston Celtics, the team he rooted for his entire life.

Mendez had originally listed three potential locations when filling out the application where he knew he’d have a place to stay with friends or family – Boston, Atlanta, and Miami. After receiving his assignment with the Celtics’ Partner Development department, he was pleasantly surprised to find out the fellowship provided housing near the arena for the entire program’s duration.

The fellows first met at the NBA’s headquarters in New York, N.Y. for a three-day orientation. Mendez took advantage of the chance to hear from various established figures throughout the association, and even enjoyed numerous insightful conversations with Norfolk State men’s basketball legend Kyle O’Quinn. 

“They gave us so many gems,” Mendez recalled. “Kyle O’Quinn told me to take advantage of all opportunities, don’t be discouraged for lack of resources. Always be ready and prepared, walk with the energy that you belong.”

After connecting with other fellows in the program, the group dispersed to their respective assignments, sending Mendez back to Boston for the start of his new position. His organization differentiated from the rest in one major way: the offseason hadn’t arrived for the Celtics yet, as the team prepared to host an NBA Finals game just a few days away. 

Entering TD Garden on game night, Mendez admitted he couldn’t help but from feel a bit starstruck by the moment.

“One of my favorite memories was watching the guys warm up,” Mendez said. “Watching Stephen Curry, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum go through their routines was crazy to me because I deal with that. I recorded a couple of things, so I’m definitely going to take what I learned back to Norfolk State.”

Mendez wasted no time becoming a hands-on contributor within his new squad. He helped the Celtics’ activation team host partner suites, including setting up the hospitality area with gifts, escorting team VIPs to their suites, and displaying the franchise’s 1986 championship trophy. 

“It taught me how to deal with high-level people because you never know who is going to walk into one of these rooms,” he said. 

Unfortunately, Mendez didn’t get to set up a celebratory parade for his hometown – Curry and Golden State defeated Boston in six games for the dynasty’s fourth title since 2015. But his tasks didn’t simmer at the series’ conclusion, as he immediately began working on two end-of-season recap decks for the team’s corporate partners, gathering television, social media, and email metrics. 

Many tasks even at the highest levels require flexibility and patience, something Mendez learned when assisting the Partner Development team in packing all the gifts given to Kevin Garnett at his number retirement ceremony. Upon realizing the boxes weren’t big enough for multiple large portrait frames, he sprang into action, helping make new boxes by measuring and cutting frames himself.

“It took a lot of different methods and getting down and dirty on the floor, but Anthony really did a great job and used his creativity to get all the frames packed up and safely sent to Kevin,” said Celtics Office Manager, and one of Mendez’s supervisors, Tiffany Brathwaite. “A task like this stands out more so than others because you really see a person’s attitudes towards something that is not as exciting as others and their willingness to help where needed. It’s a great measure for success.”

Representing an HBCU at such a premiere stage proved advantageous in many situations. Mendez stepped up to the challenge when he received the opportunity to create an HBCU theme night for the Celtics’ upcoming season. He dedicated time throughout the summer to find a corporate partner for the event, plan out game night entertainment, create marketing materials, and select an individual to sing the national anthem. 

Mendez worked with the team’s group sales director to organize ticket specials for students of color for the event and helped set up an HBCU educational panel prior to the game to discuss careers in sports business. Some of the promotional strategies of Norfolk State’s season helped inspire him throughout the process.

“I kind of got ideas from what NSU and NBA teams have done,” Mendez said. “I mixed all my experiences together to get what I was trying to prepare for.”

Some of the summer’s most rewarding moments came on the court where Mendez could impact the Boston youth. He assisted with Jr. Celtics basketball camps, coaching the attendees during drills and scrimmages. Mendez gained such popularity with the kids, Brathwaite said he signed a few autographs afterwards.

The fellowship truly came full circle when he attended the 2022 NBA Cares Finals Legacy Project, a partnership between the Celtics and NBA to create a Learn and Play Center at a local YMCA. The ribbon-cutting ceremony left a lasting image for Mendez, who grew up playing basketball in that gym during his early years.

“This is the same room where I used to sit and eat Domino’s with my boys after pickup games, so being there and watching the reactions of the kids when the NBA opened up the Learn and Play Center truly meant a great deal to me,” he said. “I know what rooms like these do for my community, they keep kids from doing things they aren’t supposed to be doing. It gives kids a space to be creative and hopeful about their dreams.”

At one time Mendez had his sights set on becoming a professional sports agent someday. Now, he feels that he’s no longer confined to one potential career path.

“I think that’s what makes this so important, it gives you the opportunity to find out how you can get into the sports industry,” he said. “My mind has definitely opened up to all opportunities, not just being an agent.”

As part of the fellowship’s inaugural class, Mendez feels a sense of responsibility to carry the things he learned this summer with him into his future. He hopes the impact he and his peers made during this program will help push all industries to avoid overlooking the talents and contributions of students from HBCUs.

“It gives us an opportunity to show that we’re no different from anybody else,” he said. “I think that’s really important because it allows us to show that we belong, we’re worthy, and that we can add value.”