(NOTE: View all of Jordan's creative work at the bottom of this article)
Written by Cody Chalifoux '21
- ECGulls.com Intern
BEVERLY, Mass. – Creativity is an essential part of basketball. From dribble moves to scoring around a taller defender, how creative a player can be is quite important. On and off the court, senior guard Jordan Pettway (Bridgeport, Conn.) demonstrates peak creativity.
Pettway has spent the better part of the last seven months interning for SLAM, a media company that specializes in basketball. SLAM has been around since 1994 when the company came out with a bi-monthly magazine fusing the worlds of pop culture and basketball. Since then, SLAM has grown to be one of the leaders in basketball media, dominating social media pages as well as running their own website.
Media and of course basketball have always been passions for Pettway, so naturally, he picked digital media as his major at Endicott as well as playing basketball.
"I knew when I was a freshman I wanted to work in basketball, probably basketball media or something like that."
Additionally, he has made multiple different videos on his own and for class projects over his time at Endicott. One of his best is a video he made during the first semester of his freshman year, highlighting his journey through recovering from shoulder surgery in high school, which can be seen on his personal Twitter page.
Jordan got the internship through a friend he went to high school with. At first, SLAM was just a fun idea but not too realistic, as their headquarters are in New York and the commute back and forth, as well as being a student-athlete would have been too much of a commitment. However, Pettway was able to take a positive out of a negative situation. He was able to take the internship remotely due to COVID-19. "Me and my mom talk about that all the time. COVID-19 has been hard but it definitely helped me out in a sense."
At SLAM, Pettway has been editing a plethora of videos, from interviews with basketball stars he grew up idolizing, to filming for the number 16th ranked overall female high-school recruit in the country.
While editing interviews from players like Chris Paul, Ray Allen, Paul George, and DeAndre Jordan was a cool experience, a funny video he made of Dion Waiters and J.R. Smith was easily the highlight of his time at SLAM so far. (NOTE: View all of Jordan's creative work via the hyperlinks above and/or at the bottom of this article)
Right before the NBA restart, Smith was signed by the Los Angeles Lakers to help them gun for a title. With the addition of J.R., this meant he would be joining another goofball at the end of the Lakers bench in Waiters. Both players are known for their on and off-court antics, as well as their "every shot, is an open shot" mentality. Pettway made a funny little video to celebrate the pairing and it went viral.
Multiple NBA stars, including Smith and Waiters, saw and commented and reposted Pettway's video, laughing and joking along the way.
"It got like 200,000 views and I'm like 'Yo, J.R. Smith is commenting under something I made all these basketball players are commenting under and reposting something I made,'" said Pettway. "It was just wow, just a surreal feeling."
As Pettway is making these videos and attending meetings, he is also juggling life as a student-athlete. A starter for the men's basketball team over the past two seasons, Pettway has orchestrated the offense as the team's point guard and main ball handler. His decision making and stout perimeter defense have been his claim to fame, making sure scorers like Keith Brown '20 (Pelham, N.H.) and Matt McDevitt (Cumberland, Maine) get the necessary shots they need.
However, Pettway's senior season, much like millions of athletes around the globe, has not gone according to plan. Due to COVID-19, the basketball team's ability to stay in the gym and practice constantly has been tested. Thanks to a few shutdowns and now a reality where students are not returning to campus until February at the earliest, his season could be in jeopardy.
Pettway is in high spirits, however, as he is optimistic about the chances of playing this winter. He says that this is basically the first year of his life not playing basketball, but he is blessed to have this opportunity at SLAM and hopes to keep this relationship going for a while.
Sonia Citron is too TUFF in the backcourt. The SLAM16 is LIVE Saturday. @wslam @Gatorade
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) October 29, 2020
Learn more: https://t.co/HHnfq7HqNF pic.twitter.com/YA98lLHNDS
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(Photo Credit - Nick Grace '20)
