During the football season, equipment manager Miguel Acevedo frequently stays until after one a.m, cleaning the team’s uniforms and checking their pads and helmets.

He is responsible for doling out the uniforms to each team at the beginning of the season and taking them back at each season’s conclusion. He rigorously cleans them so that they appear new for the following year.

Football is the hardest sport on which the 37-year-old Acevedo works.  Normally he is only responsible for giving out the uniforms at the beginning of each season and collecting them at the end.  Football, however, requires much more attention to detail.

Equipment manager is a job that many colleges have, but the post is rarely found in high schools. Acevedo’s duties with the school extend far beyond his title as equipment manager, including working with the trainers on possible connections between injuries and uniforms.

“I have to make sure that those kids are safe when they go to play and that they’re wearing the uniforms properly,” Acevedo said. 

He is also responsible for purchasing the uniforms for every sports team. Over the last few years, Acevedo has been working with Adidas. He places an order by letter and pays for the uniforms, which usually last three to four years per sport.

Acevedo also drives buses for sports teams and academic field trips. He continues driving even though he doesn’t need to because he relishes another opportunity “to get to know the kids.”

Acevedo decided to become certified as a bus driver when his first job with the JBL audio company bored him. He next came to the Middle School, where he worked as a bus driver for his first two years with the school.

He saw an opening at the Upper School, applied and has worked on this campus for the past 11 years in various capacities. He has yet to be ticketed or involved in an accident.
Acevedo illegally immigrated to the US from Mexico. The second of nine children, he was 15 when his parents brought him.

He had no choice in the move and remembers a difficult transition until he became accustomed to his new country. The family settled in Los Angeles without Acevedo knowing any English. Acevedo received his U.S. citizenship in 1997 and obtained his green card before that.

Acevedo’s  works in an office inside the weight room next to Strength Coach Greg Bishop. The constant clink of metal weights can be heard through the doors which he always keeps open

Acevedo smiled his dimpled grin as he talked about Harvard-Westlake. “It’s great place to work,” he said. “I love the kids.”

Acevedo has been married for the past 14 years. He and his wife Marjorie don’t have any children, for, as Acevedo said, “the entire school is my kids.”