'Being prepared is half the battle'

SANDPOINT — Back in 1995, a tall 17-year-old kid and his family moved from Texas to Sandpoint.

One of the first things Jarrett Robson did when he got to school was go straight to the new Bulldog head football coach, Satini Puailoa, and introduce himself.  

“He says ‘I am an all-state manager from Texas.’ I said ‘do you want to manage for us?’ He said, ‘Yes coach, I do,’” recalls Puailoa. “He’s been with the program ever since, through thick and thin. The debt of gratitude this place owes him is amazing.”

Turns out Robson, 36, was a man of his word, and now in his 20th season as the team’s manager, will be roaming the sidelines tonight doing everything from handing out water, to fixing various equipment issues to providing energy and support.

And should an equipment issue arise, as often happens in football, you can rest assured Robson will have no problem fixing it.

“My underlying goal is to be prepared for the unexpected. That’s why I carry six extra helmets, six extra shoulder pads,” explains Robson. “I have the tools. Being prepared is half the battle.”

Robson recalls a time long ago at Moscow when a player forgot his helmet, and a coach yelled to see if Robson had an extra helmet. Of course, he did.

“I got the helmet to him and life was good from that point on,” recalls Robson, who says kids call him anything from equipment extraordinaire to Jerr-Bear. “I’d rather be a step ahead of these guys than a step behind.”

Robson eventually purchased his own trailer, which he takes to both home and away games. He’s been to two state championships, and hopes to travel to many more before he’s through.

When he was in college at the University of Idaho, where he was a manager for two years for the Vandals football team, he would work a football game in Sandpoint on Friday, then another the next afternoon in Moscow.

Robson runs the SHS equipment room with an iron fist, personally seeing to each item that comes and goes, no easy task with well over 100 football players at all of the levels. Part of his duties is also laundry, which takes a lot of time.

“He’ll be in there at 3 or 4 a.m. washing and folding clothes,” says Puailoa. “The guy’s got a heart of gold.”

One of Robson’s favorite memories was watching the Bulldogs beat Hillcrest five years ago to reach the state finals.

“They thought they were going to come up here and beat us,” remembers Robson. “I saw a team come together. We only had about 40 kids, but punched our ticket to the championship. That was fun.”

Robson lists another highlight as watching former NFL quarterback Jake Plummer help out with the team for a couple of years.

“He knew his stuff,” says Robson. “He is such a classy guy. I enjoyed working with him.”

Robson estimates he spends 30 hours a week keeping the team running smoothly. He says his three favorite players were Brett Taylor, Caleb Bowman and Jeremy Thielbahr, and that he loves coach Puailoa’s “leave no one behind” philosophy .

Most of all, he just loves football and being around the players.

“Football is always right, because everything is for the positive,” says Robson. “When life gets tough on you, I leave everything at the door before I get here, and life is good. Let’s go play football.”