In front of tens of thousands of fans, senior Landon Lauter hustles onto the field to help Chicago Bears kicker Cairo Santos and punter Trenton Gill warm up at Soldier Field.
“[The players] need to get ready for the second half, and someone needs to catch the punts for them,” said Lauter. “It’s pretty stressful, that part, because you’re catching balls in front of like 70,000 fans, and if you miss it, you hear heckles like, ‘I could do a better job. You [stink] … Get off the field.’”
Lauter works for the Chicago Bears with seniors Aaron Marks and Patrick Schaller as part-time assistant equipment managers.
After finding out about the job from a family friend last year, Lauter told Marks and Schaller about the position because he thought they would be interested.
“Ever since probably kindergarten, I’ve been watching NFL football every single week with my dad, not missing a week in there,” said Marks. “And sports have really been a huge part of my life. And ultimately, a goal in my future career is to work in sports, whether it be just working around sports like I’m doing right now or the journalism side of sports … So it’s just a great way to achieve that. It’s just something I was interested in from the start.”
Lauter, Marks and Schaller arrive at Halas Hall, the Chicago Bears headquarters in Lake Forest, around 5:30 a.m. for home games on Sundays. From there, they travel in vans to Soldier Field where they help other equipment staff ensure the locker rooms and field are ready for players. They set up kicking nets, a Gatorade table and make sure equipment is on the sidelines, such as backup helmets.
Marks’ favorite experience was when the Chicago Bears played the Green Bay Packers the first week of this season.
“There was a lot of anticipation for the upcoming season,” said Marks. “Bears didn’t exactly get the result that they wanted. But I think the fact that the stadium almost seemed completely full with 30 minutes until the game started was absolutely ridiculous, and the fans were just really loud.”
According to Lauter, they must follow strict rules and stick to NFL standards.
“The team could be severely fined if you don’t do the correct thing,” said Lauter. “They can get fined … if we have a phone out. That’s how intense these violations are now.”
The first game Schaller worked, he was introduced to Chicago Bears players, including tight end Cole Kmet and quarterback Justin Fields.
“One of my bosses told me [some players were] asking about me, asking who I was because they thought I was a player or something,” said Schaller, who is a 6-foot-6-inch D1 football verbal commit.
“Everyone idolizes these people like they’re these superstars,” said Schaller. “But when you’re there with them, they’re just normal, regular dudes just doing their job playing football.”
When the seniors return to Halas Hall after a game, they clean and organize players’ equipment. Because of traffic, the drive back to Halas Hall can take up to four hours, and sometimes the students do not end their work day until 10:30 p.m.
“You sort all the players’ cleats and stuff,” said Marks. “You’ll put them into their own designated bags to move down to Soldier Field. You’ll do laundry, fold towels, stuff like that. On Sunday nights, you’ll put their cleats and gloves back in their locker [and] separate the game ones so they could be washed.”
According to Lauter, he only feels pressure when postgame media comes onto the field after games.
“The news people are swarming you,” said Lauter. “Sometimes they ask you questions about random stuff, and you gotta say, ‘No’ … If [there is] something in the locker room going on, they might ask us to see if we could slip up.”
Even with the occasional stress, Lauter enjoys working for the Chicago Bears.
“I’ve been a Bears fan my whole life,” said Lauter. “So getting the opportunity to work with these players who I aspire to be one day [has a] special place in my heart.”