KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chiefs Director of Equipment Allen Wright has been with the organization for 36 years. He's seen a lot of changes with the team and changes in the equipment. But, as the team began moving equipment from their practice facility, Wright remains as excited as his first day helping the Chiefs to move.
"It is such a blessing. [Members of the equipment staff] each have their own responsibilities," Wright said. "I have one guy that's in charge of helmets and shoulder pads, one guy that's in charge of cloth, one guy that's in charge of laundry. So, we all put our heads down and we go to work. I don't have to check on them."
Training camp begins once again at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri on July 22. It's three weeks of hard work and potentially hot weather. The players are certainly ready for the excitement the camp brings.
"I'm ready man. I'm excited. It's gonna be a fun year. I can feel it getting going already. You got the nerves going already," Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce said during a shopping spree he provided for several kids at Dick's Sporting Goods in Leawood, Kansas on Saturday. "It's something that we're gonna have to build during training camp. And, sure enough, we've got a young group of guys that are hungry and ready to kind of prove ourselves."
So, just how much equipment is headed to the Missouri Western campus for training camp? Wright said when it comes to providing what the players, coaches and staff need, it's better to have too much stuff than not enough.
"We take over 5,000 pieces of gum. We take somewhere between 800 and 1,000 pairs of shoes, somewhere around 1,000 towels, wash rags. It's all kind of standard numbers," Wright said. "You can have too much and nobody cares. But, they care if you run out. So, we take too much of everything. That's kind of the equipment manager [thing]. You know, how you guys feel when you pack when you go on vacation. Take that times 100 and that's what I feel right now."
