Brush With Immortality -- Seahawk Trainer Works Overtime To Paint Game Balls

Every time the Seattle Seahawks win, Terry Sinclair reaches for his paint brushes.

Sinclair is the Seahawks' assistant equipment manager, who comes equipped with artistic skills.

After each victory, Coach Chuck Knox selects outstanding offensive, defensive and special-teams players to receive game balls. Sometimes he gives them to assistant coaches, too.

Sinclair puts two coats of white paint on a panel of a ball, then paints, "Game Ball Presented to" and applies the player's name, score, date and where the game was played.

Joe Horrigan, curator and research director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, said the origins of the game-ball tradition are unclear.

Horrigan said he knows that game balls were presented as early as 1903.

"It's something that's been done for an awfully long time," Horrigan said.

He said the ball was a "logical" choice for a trophy, particularly in football's first decades, when only one ball was used in a game.

A lot more balls are used these days. A home team in the NFL must have 24 balls ready for officials one hour before kickoff.

Sinclair said he always tries to paint footballs actually used in the particular game. When only three or four individuals get game balls, that's no problem. But when Knox gets generous, as he did three times last year when the whole team got game balls, there aren't enough to go around and others are used.

It takes Sinclair a total of 45 minutes over three days to finish each ball. Because he has other duties, plus works as a part-time fireman, it can take months to catch up.

The club pays him $25 a ball and he does a lot of his work at home.

The NFL gives the Seahawks dozens of balls to start the season, but when extras are needed, Sinclair said they are purchased at a special rate of $18. In sporting goods stores, NFL regulation balls can cost $60.

Players express varying degrees of gratitude for game balls.

"Some could care less," said Sinclair, who prefers to remember the sincere thanks offered by the likes of Chris Warren, Dwayne Harper and Eugene Robinson.

Notes

-- Running back Derrick Fenner was unable to practice yesterday because of tendinitis in his right knee. Knox said he won't decide whether to suit up Fenner against Pittsburgh until tomorrow morning. Warren will start. -- Defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy practiced yesterday for the first time this week. He will start tomorrow. -- Quarterback Dave Krieg will celebrate both his 33nd birthday and his return as a starter in Pittsburgh. -- When ex-Oregon Duck Derek Loville, practiced catching kicks at the end of Thursday's practice, he had his helmet off and on the ground near him. Offensive coordinator John Becker, who coached at Oregon years before Loville arrived, hollered, "Don't get hurt on that helmet back there, Quack." Loville, one of the team's quick wits, responded by mimicking a pensive Becker pose with arms crossed. Then he broke into a smile. -- There are two Chuck Knox Stadiums in Pennsylvania, one at his high school, now renamed Quaker Valley High (it was Sewickley High), and the other at Juniata College. -- Knox said on his radio show that special-teams coach Rusty Tillman "is destined to be a head coach." -- Prophetic remark: In a preseason interview, Plan B safety Kevin Thompson said, "You can never let yourself forget that every day a team is trying to find someone better to do your job." Sure enough, the Seahawks put Thompson on the practice squad, then cut him.