Super Bowl LV (55) is coming up this Sunday, and it’s going to be a day to Aubrey Grier never forgets. For years, the Bethune-Cookman University alumnus has worked in the front office of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, racking up countless awards as time went on. Now that the Bucs will be competing against the Kansas City Chiefs, he’s ready to prepare his team all the way to their victory. Read how Grier has pushed the team towards the championship in the Bucs’ office with the full story from Bethune-Cookman below!
Yeah, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have run up some impressive stats with Brady and Gronkowski, et al, in their improbable run to host Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Bethune-Cookman University graduate Aubrey Grier can spout off all those numbers, but he’s played a role in a stat just as impressive as a member of the Bucs’ front office, where he’s worked eight seasons as a member relations associate. Tampa Bay’s front office has been ranked No. 1 among the National Football League’s 32 teams in customer service five of the past seven years. The team has that on their e-mail graphics, not one of Brady… yet.
“It’s the key to our success,” said Grier, a 2009 Mass Comm graduate, on the Bucs’ customer service. “We take a lot of pride and feel fortunate that we’ve been able to accomplish what we have.
Grier has twice been awarded the staff’s best teammate award and once received the star award for being the most charismatic member among the franchise’s 190-member front office.
“It’s been rewarding,” Grier said. “I found a way to stand out.”
The way started with Grier covering sports for B-CU’s broadcast department and televison station, where he ran the gauntlet of covering Wildcat sports in hopes of one day covering sports for a living.
What changed his mind?
“The ESPN call never came,” Grier laughed.
He still wanted an opportunity to work in sports, which came with a one-year contract with the Atlanta Hawks’ ticket office. After that year expired, the Richmond, Va. native did some networking and wound up back in Florida with Tampa Bay, even though some of those early years were lean in the victory department.
That’s what making Sunday so exciting, not to mention hosting a Super Bowl as well.
“This is a dream come true,” Grier said. “This is the pinnacle and you always aspire to have this experience.”
One of his former instructors, Dr. Camesa Whittaker-Manzueta said that Grier is one of her most memorable students.
“He was diligent, focused and passionate about serving community and doing all he could to enhance his future while in school,” Whittaker-Manzueta said. “I am proud to have been his professor during his undergraduate years at Bethune-Cookman. He represents the best our university offers to the global marketplace.”
Grier gave credit for his Bethune-Cookman days for putting him on the road to hosting a Super Bowl.
“I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Bethune-Cookman,” Grier said. “It gave me my voice, the ability to be creative and challenge myself and the confidence to work in a profession where a lot of the industry doesn’t look like me, but I’ve been able to maneuver and have success.”
