Aztecs Scene & Heard: These guys are essential for San Diego State to keep on truckin’

RENO, Nev. — One of the most dreaded things in life is moving. Even worse? Being asked to help someone else move.

Now imagine having to move 12 tons of gear and equipment at least 12 times over a three-month period.

Welcome to an essential but largely overlooked — and underappreciated — task required to get a college football team’s gear from here to there for game day.

It is a challenging chore that requires an amount of preparation, attention to detail and teamwork similar to what is asked of those playing the game itself.

“It’s cool. It’s literally like Tetris, and I love video games,” said SDSU equipment manager Omer Melzer-Bronstein, who is in charge of the exhaustive process.

It’s one thing for San Diego State to truck everything seven miles from campus to Snapdragon Stadium for a home game.

Road games are another story.

For the game against Northern Illinois two weeks ago, SDSU’s truck left on a Wednesday for the 38-hour journey to ensure it would be there in time for a midday Saturday kickoff.

Imagine transporting everything 2,600 miles across the Pacific Ocean. SDSU will use a cargo plane to fly gear, equipment and supplies to Honolulu when the Aztecs play Hawaii. That means loading, then later unloading at the airport here, and doing it all over again at the airport there.

SDSU’s game this week at Nevada required having everything prepped during the week so it could be loaded on Thursday for the 640-mile, 12-hour drive to Reno.

At 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, David Ellsworth from Elite Relocation Services walked out in front of the Fowler Athletics Center and looked down 55th Street toward Montezuma Road. He was keeping an eye out for driver Jim Anderson to arrive in the 18-wheeler that hauls SDSU’s stuff.

Within a couple of minutes, Ellsworth spotted the semi branded with “AZTEC FOOTBALL” on the sides and larger-than-life pictures of cornerback Chris Johnson and center Ross Ulugalu-Maseuli posing with The Old Oil Can trophy on the rear door.

Anderson took a hard right-hand turn at the light adjacent to the athletics building, then Ellsworth held traffic at the intersection so the truck could back up behind the building.

Waiting there was Melzer-Bronstein, two of his assistants and a dozen SDSU student managers.

“The students help so much,” Melzer-Bronstein said. “It can’t be done without them. They do a fantastic job.”

Then there’s Ellsworth, aka The Packer, who is in charge of how things are loaded.

“I’m used to packing people’s households and livelihoods and laboratory stuff in trucks,” said Ellsworth, who began loading the Aztecs in 2023 after two decades in the packing business. “The opportunity came to do something new and pack trucks with bigger stuff and really important electronics, and I asked for a shot.”

Melzer-Bronstein stood just inside the back of the truck alongside Ellsworth as The Packer called out for trunks, bins and other equipment that was quickly brought over.

The tailgate lift went up and down countless times over the next hour, loading 20 trunks that included everything from SDSU’s iconic football helmets, jerseys, pads and cleats to coach communications and video equipment to massage tables and the popup tent players go into when injured.

There were three bins filled to the brim with the players’ bags. There was a pallet loaded with cases of water, energy drinks and Gatorade, as well as the bins to place them in on the sideline. There were exercise bikes. There was a ladder.

One of the most important boxes to go in was labeled “coaches’ snacks.”

As they were loaded, a truck drove up to drop off two boxes of hand warmers. The cold-weather gear was loaded up for the first time this season, with two trunks of parkas and another with jackets.

Anderson, the driver, watched as things were loaded, helping with the lift every now and then.

“It’s kind of like being a roadie for a rock band,” he said.

Hauling stuff for a football team rates as one of his more pleasant driving assignments.

The strangest? Anderson once hauled 50 pounds of radioactive material from Los Angeles to 32nd Street. It was a government assignment, and Anderson was required to stand out of view when the truck was opened and unloaded.

Another unusual load was the crates of live sea urchins he delivered from downtown San Diego to LAX, where an Air Japan plane was waiting. Sea urchins are a delicacy noted for their rich creamy flavor. Anderson was not tempted to crack open a crate for a taste test.

The driver’s focus is keeping his eyes on the road. And the weather.

“Me and snow don’t get along very good,” Anderson said.

He’s not too enamored with ice, rain or wind, either.

Anderson’s focus is getting safely from Point A to Point B in a timely fashion.

That’s why he didn’t take the most direct route from San Diego to Reno, Interstate 15 to U.S. Route 395, which covers about 560 miles and takes 9 1/2 hours with moderate traffic. Much of route 395 is a two-lane highway and includes 200 miles through towns with stoplights and/or winding mountain roads. Not good for 18-wheelers.

Anderson and Ellsworth instead took Interstate 5 to Stockton, east along State Route 99 through Sacramento, then along Interstate 80 east to Reno. It added 80 miles and three hours to the drive, but Anderson got to Reno on Friday morning before the sun was up.

They stopped by SDSU’s downtown Reno hotel about 8 a.m. and dropped off things the coaches would need for meetings.

Later, it was over to Mackay Stadium to unload everything else. SDSU’s charter flight was a little behind schedule Friday afternoon, so Ellsworth said he took 90% of the stuff off the truck himself while he waited. It was ready to be taken into the stadium when Melzer-Bronstein and Co. arrived.

Ellsworth and Anderson get a good view of the game from the field, though Anderson usually heads back to the truck about halftime for a nap ahead of the return trip. The cab includes a pair of bunk beds behind the seats.

Moments after the game ends, the truck is reloaded for the return trip. Anderson and Ellsworth figured to be back in San Diego by midafternoon on Sunday.

There’s plenty of time to unload. The Aztecs don’t practice until Wednesday morning.