September 24, 2025 • 37 mins
An exploration of Native fandom and careers in professional sports, featuring former rezballer Shawn Martinez, Director of Live Entertainment for the Phoenix Suns, and a passionate high school basketball fan whose story goes far beyond the game.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Burnsage Burn Bridges. I'm your host, Nicole Garcia.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
To me, the definition of res ball is a bunch
of res kids getting together with no rules. It's just
you and like six of your cousins playing together.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
This is my friend Kim, who we will be hearing
from throughout the episode.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
It gets pretty wild. I mean it could be a
combination of like basketball, soccer, wrestling. Sometimes you don't even
have a goal, or you have a goal but there's
no net, it's just the rim. Sometimes you're playing with
the basketball. Sometimes you play with football. There is no
rules and it's just the six of you playing because
you're at Grandma's house and there's nothing else to do.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Res Ball is extremely popular in native communities. In today's episode,
I want to explore the many important aspects beyond the game.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Reds Ball for me is running gun fast pace. There's
no slowing down. You're always on the run. For me,
I mean shooting the three, taking in into the hole,
your dirt road, your dirt court. You know where to
dribble and not to dribble, and where to shoot from
and how to hit the backboard because it's not very stable.
Just res ball is home court basketball that I'm used to.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
This is Sean Martinez who is living the NBA dream,
but in a different way than you would expect.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I think one of the biggest things I've learned in
life is to always be ready for that right place,
right time. And it was the right place, right time
when I was hired by the Denver Nuggets in Denver
in two thousand and two, I was ready to take
on the challenge.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
This challenge started with coordinating and DJing, leading to the
director of live presentation for both the Phoenix Suns and
the Phoenix Mercury.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I think I might be the only Native American that's
in this position in all the leagues. No one said
no when Native American News put that out there. That's
kind of how my journey really started in the NBA
and that little kid in forty Finance real Perco dreaming
of making to the NBA. This is my way to
get in and it was really a blessing to be
(02:18):
a part of that journey. I started DJing in college.
I used to hang out by the DJ booths and
they fired the DJs and told me I was up.
I'm like, what, I don't know what I'm doing? So
I taught myself out of DJ how to make how
to do all the little things. And I DJ's with
the guy who worked for the Denver Nuggets, and he's like, hey,
applied for this job, you know, And I applied, I
(02:39):
got the job. I worked for Let's Go the Nuggets,
the Avalanche, the Mammoth, the Rapids won a championship with
the Rapids. The Colorado Crush won a championship with John
Lway and the Colorado Crush. I worked for the Rockies,
I worked for the Broncos, every team in Denver I
worked for just to get my start and learn the
whole business of arena entertainment if you will, live presentation,
(03:04):
and then just like parleying that and get them recruited
to Detroit, where my boss who hired me in Denver,
went out there. So he brought me out there to
kind of do that kind of thing. But in Denver
on the Native American air this night, I'd round the
ball the powwow style dancers to come in and dance,
bringing a drum, educate people in the different styles of dance.
When my mom was younger, she'd made a hundred Frybreds.
(03:27):
Everyone always remembers that, Hey, I remember when your mom
made all that friy red and we had to eat
at the stadium. And when I got to Detroit, it's like, man,
where all the natives at? Like I got to find him.
And I went up north and found some sag Chip
Native Americans up there, went to one of their picnics,
just introduced myself, and man, I felt like I was
at home when I went to their picnics, because it
(03:47):
just felt like I was back on the Reds. I
did six years with the Detroit Pistons and now I'm
back home through the pandemic. This job opened and I
applied and I didn't have one live interview. They were
all either zoom or something. And I got the job
and I got home and things just kept rolling. It's
the home team. It's close to home. I drive five
hours and I'm back home, which is amazing. And I
(04:10):
love seeing all our THENT people at the game. I'm
always waving and trying to get on the screen, so
trying to give back and make sure they can experience
what I'm experiencing because I just I love that part
of it.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Nobody really knows that somebody is in the NBA who
grew up just like everyone else out here, you know,
And it's a different route because I didn't even understand
this job. I understand a DJ, but I don't understand
like you can actually produce an NBA game. For instance,
like when you're working with the Suns, there's the DJ
that you're kind of looking over, so you're just you're
not doing that anymore. You're doing more the bigger picture.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I'm directing the game outside of the game, so I'm
in charge of anything that the players are not doing,
from the gorilla to the dance team, to the entertainment team,
to the dunkers, to the DJ, to the video to
the animations. You see, I'm directing all that. I start
with the script, but if things changed during the game,
(05:07):
you kind of follow the vibe of the room and
the vibe of what's happening in the game, and I'm
directing all the madness.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
It's kind of like a live TV show, all of
this stuff happening. But usually there's a huge team of
people working on stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Right, it's me and I have my six people who
work under me. Under that, it's all our entertainers. So
forty entertainers, if you will. And then the game production crew,
which is my control room camera crew. We're all putting
this big piece of entertainment together and trying to entertain
fans and make sure they have a good time. Whether
(05:40):
you win or lose, everyone's like, wow, that was a
good time.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I've seen a couple of games I think like, maybe
no shade, but Oklahoma, there's no sound sometimes and I'm like,
that's happening.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
It's feels so weird.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, we try to play music, make sure that players
get their dribble up music and their big songs and
their sound effects.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
It seems like it's just very short clip bits of songs.
What music is chosen? Is that based off of your
own preference or are you going off the team, are
you going off the fans?
Speaker 4 (06:10):
What are you like?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Looking at every single one of those elements and then
whatever the element is and then heal in the room.
I have a sheet, it's kind of a music sheet
that has hot timeout songs, defense songs, back in the
game songs. Just in case you forget what you're doing,
you can just look at this number and punch it
in and ready to go. That was one of the
(06:31):
first things I was taught when I started learning the
arena DJ sound because I DJ's Women's Final Four, I
DJ's All Star Games. Me and DJ Automatic, we like
the East Coast, Like any of those East Coast beats
are just so much harder. They feel like I'm gonna
dunk on you when I hear this song kind of
(06:51):
kind of beats. And then like if we're playing Golden
State or the Clippers, we take all the California artists out,
so we're not giving them any So we got to
think about those little things. But just making sure the
team knows we're here for them, we know we're all
on the same page trying to help each other win.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
That is something to think about when you're playing at
the Lakers. I'm sure you can't play any like you.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Know, Dreg. Yeah, if you can tie a song to
what's happening at wherever you're at, it always amplifies that
moment even more so. That's one of the things I
love doing and just making sure, Like to me, seventy
five percent of the room at a game is music.
When you can hear someone can hear their jam they're in,
(07:35):
they're instantly into whatever's happening.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
You really got to know the music. You really got
to know the part, not just the music, but like
the part of the song that's gonna hit. And then
it's for really short times. What are the rules.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
The rules are you can only play instrumentals when they're
dribbling up on offense, so it can't have any lyrics
for defense. It's got to have a defense. Cadence liked Benn.
So there are some rules and we really try to
abide by them.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Sean's doing a lot to represent Native people, and that's
not just by playing Redbone or giving us screen time
during games. He also helped create the iconic Phoenix Suns
twenty twenty two twenty twenty three city edition jerseys.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
The originative jersey was just an unbelievable undertaking that started
when I was in Detroit. They reached out to me
to be a consultant on the jersey, and all of
a sudden, things kept moving during the pandemic and I
ended up getting the job with the Phoenix Suns and
it was just an unbelievable program where we worked with
all twenty two tribal nations federally recognized tribal nations of Arizona,
(08:41):
the Inter Tribal Council, Phoenix Indian Center, Kahokia Unity. Everybody
had a piece and had an input on it. Jonathanz
who was president at the time when we were going
through the design work, he was definitely instrumental and giving
us feedback on the design. And just the great work
between Graham Wincott and Chris Grosch, a creative director, all
(09:03):
those people, all of us coming together and making sure
we tell the story of our people and we tell
it the right way and still listen, not thinking, oh,
here it is, we're gonna lay it out. When people
give us feedback, We're still listening, making sure we're fine
tuning in And where we ended up by the end
of the season was just unbelievable, just having the anthems
(09:24):
sung in our Dinnair language and Tahuna Optum, White Mountain,
Apache and hope, like this is on the biggest stage
in the NBA where we're having our people showcase their talents.
At halftime, we had Native American DJs here. I got
all twenty two tribal nations flags hung up permanently in
(09:44):
our pavilion here at Footprint Center, and just you know,
giving back and making sure our people had a voice.
Every time I booked an entertainment group, it wasn't go
out there and dance, it's tell us why you're dancing,
tell us why you're wearing the regalia, what's the dance about?
So you can educate our son's fan base on what
we're about. And all the tribes had a chance to
do that, which was an amazing, amazing thing that I
(10:07):
wanted to make sure it was one of the staples.
And how they talked about the Sipy Cure Patche Ground
dancers dancing a halftime in arena was so amazing, Hilo
River basket dancers, I mean, just all the different Denetta
and Nabo dancers. We had the guardians to have the
superied guardians of the Grand Canyon dancers in here and
they all explained what they were doing. It was so
(10:28):
cool to see that on our court, which was a
dedication to the jersey with this logo at center court.
Twenty two flag represents twenty two tribal nations of Arizona
and that was on the court and they were dancing
on a center court with all the twenty two tribal
nations were for Sun on the court and on the
jerseys that the sons were wearing, and the turquoise color,
(10:50):
the protection stone, all the little things that we researched
and made sure they came to life within this program.
Was just dreaming on the ress, this point being a
part of that. It just all came together. Something that
I've been working for my whole life. Can still tell
our story. Like we always say, we're still here. We're entertainers,
(11:11):
were artists, we're poets, we're professionals, letting people know we're
thriving and what is now the new America. I appreciate
the platform. I appreciate the connection. I appreciate being able
to amplify the voices of all tribal nations because we're
still here. We still have a story to tell, and
(11:34):
that's why I'm here. I believe that.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
For the rest of today's episode, let's move local and
talk about a super fan of high school basketball.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
From what I know about John Tipart, he was practically
at every single game, the ladest one to cheer like.
He really is high school's number one fan.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
People like to watch me at the game because I
cheer on the team. The fans, they said, oh, Jones
is here. Yes, Yes, this place is gonna rock. Yeah
A shay Yahi Jones, the gag outo Jonesy Bear. A.
(12:38):
That's my nickname. I'm Kii Jenny bush Ching. I got
that name from local radio station out in Gallup, which
is kg a K. Mister Dehi is the one that
called me jonesy Bear and shash Bernanti and what does
that mean? You're the main bear boss or something like that.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
I know he'd be on the radio because we'd be
listening in KGAK with Harrison Dehaya and there's a couple
of times, you know, you just hear a guy start talking.
Dad's like, oh, that's Jonesy Bear.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
To kick it off, let's first talk about Jones's origin story.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I went to Through High School for two years. Then
I transferred to Wingate High School for my junior and
my senior year. My sophomore year, even though I was
still in school in Through, I used to go to
a wing Gate basketball game. Back in those days, wing
Gate had a good team every year, and I started
(13:43):
following wing Gate from there on. And then my senior
year that's when I got really into it and I
started following them everywhere.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
So it's been quite a while.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
It's been thirty five to forty years.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
My knowledge Jonesy Bear came from Dad. You would come
home from work and I'm like, so, how was work?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
What'd you do?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
And one of my first questions was always did you
have to arrest anybody?
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Like?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
What was the exciting thing today? A good ninety five
percent time, it's like nobody everyone behaved. Then when it
came to games, I'm like, so did you arrest anybody?
What happened? Thing crazy? And he's like, we had to
escort Johnesy Bear out or we had to tell jones
Bear to come down a couple of times.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
He's our number one.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Then this is Bill Bisenti Kim's dad and former security
guard at Wingate High School.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
He's a pretty good friend, pretty good person. A lot
of everybody likes them, and he supported the Bears and
all the fans support him. I came to wing Gate
High School. I started working at nineteen ninety two and
now I was started as a janitor. So I just
worked there to about ten years later. Everybody just keep
(14:54):
about Jonesy, So I want to know who Jonesy is.
And finally, when the game in shorts, that's what he comes.
And then people telling us to what's the key? So well, now,
just what do you call him? Jonesy bear?
Speaker 1 (15:09):
As it comes to preparation, Jones's fanhood resembles something Sean
would do.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Before the game, we write everything down and then we
passed out the notes. This is what we're gonna say. Yeah,
Yego's hush Jego. That's I guess traditional of Wingate High
School Bears.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah, and it just means go Bears go, shush is bear.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Yes, go Bears go. Yego's shust diego. If Wingate is ahead,
like maybe ten to fifteen points or two or four
points behind, that's when I start running down the bleachers
and then I start saying yang with shush Jago as
loud as we can so our team can hear Yego
(16:01):
shut Jego. To me, I think it's it's a powerful
name for the school, the team. They want to hear it,
so they don't know that Oh Jones is here, So
we'll say Yego shut hego, Go Bears go.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
How many other ones did you come up with?
Speaker 4 (16:21):
And they make a foul and we start saying you
you you, yes, yes, yes, and all of you that
the team walks and then we say walking walking back
to through all the referees. They know who I am
when they make bad calls, and then we say liar, liar,
(16:42):
pets on fire.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
You guys get personal.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Yes, it's fun.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Speaking of the cheers, you have a lot of props
and it looks like you make a lot of them.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
We have bad calls sign, we have re reforce sale sign.
A sign that has an eye chart. I make those.
I passed those out to the fence and we show
it to the referee. They don't allow eye chart. Now
you'll be escorted out.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
I've seen you with like two by fours.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
That was funny. That was a homecoming game. I don't
know whose idea was it, but they then they said
we should make some noise makers. So my brother, my
whole family they got two by four. Then they cut
them up for me and then we started painting it.
What did we make like maybe twenty seid And we
took it to the game and everybody wanted more and
(17:38):
more and more. But they say it was too loud
and everybody was covering their ears, so.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
They're not allowed anymore.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
I still use it but it's not a two by
four now, it's like a half an inch board like thinner. Yeah, yeah, thinner.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
It doesn't make that much.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
And then I usually make like ten of them, and
then and I put the player's number, I have them
on there, or sometimes I put their name on there.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
They can bring those in during the regular season, but
when the district game comes up, we're not allowed any
posher or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
He's got so much energy, and he's doing all this
creative stuff, you know, and as far as like cheering
and creating different cheers and props. And I just think
it's super interesting because I'm like, I don't have that energy.
I'm so interested in that energy.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
True, it's like where do you get all your energy?
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Sir?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Like, sir, give me some of that energy. How on hear?
Speaker 1 (18:33):
I would love Like if I worked that hard for.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Anything, true, I'd be the president. I'd be invincible.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Here again, is Kim, who herself has ties to Wingate.
You graduated from my gay high school? Yes, yeay, go bears.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
He's been at it for to my knowledge, over over
thirty year years.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
See that makes sense because my dad was Wingate High
School for maybe thirty years, thirty five years maybe, and
see around that whole time, you always heard about John
zu Bear, so I'm sure forty years does not surprised me.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
That brings me to another question I was curious about
when I started talking about interviewing you. How do the
cheerleaders react to you because you're kind of like stealing
their shine.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
One time we went to the game, I said, we'll
give the cheerleader to opportunity to do their charing because
it seems that we're taking over the charing. So I
talked to them and it goes, we'll go with Jones,
so they'll look at me and I'll be charing and
then they just follow me. Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I don't think that's ever happened before. Like yours just
are like, we'll just go by this megafan and let
him lead us. Yes, and how is your relationship with
the coach and the team, and like the parents are
they just happy to have you on their side?
Speaker 4 (19:55):
The staff of Winge High School and the coaches, they
enjoyed me coming to the game. Jones will do the
action here, and you know, he'll do the show here.
I don't pay at the game. I go in free,
especially when they have a pre sale ticket while people
(20:18):
are all in line. I will never be in line.
They'll know that. I'll pick up my tickets. Coach Martinez
well gave me twenty forty tickets, fifty tickets. People will
call me. I will have maybe one hundred to two
(20:39):
hundred phone calls. They'll ask me, Jones, get me a ticket.
I need four, I need ten.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
So they do support you. Then they want you at
the games. Yes, wow, because if you know, people don't
know this, but I know people stand in line like
just trying to get in because it's not a big gym.
It's a very small school. So if you're trying to
get your whole family there, good luck.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
Yep, you got to be there early or they will
call me. They said, we'll ask Jows, He'll get tickets.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
If you want tickets from Jones, there is a condition.
You better be ready to cheer.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
I only do people that will be chairing with me.
Then I'll get tickets for them.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Oh so that's a trade off. Yeah, okay, and that
probably makes your cheering that much louder and that much
more energy.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Yes. And the basketball players they love it. They say,
we can hear you, we can hear you on the court.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
On the other side, what has your interactions been with
opposing teams. I'm sure that gets tricky.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
We'll say we have a home game and then our
rival high school is Tohatchie Cougars, and then the second
one is through Hawks. We'll start off with a hatchet Cougars,
but ever we come up with our chair. Now they
started saying that too, And now all these high school
(22:09):
around here, everybody's using my cheer.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Now I take the other school, the cheering everything that.
I think they get an idea. What Jonesy doing for
wing Gay High School.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Yeah, I've seen a TikTok on this. There's like res
basketball moms.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Uh huh.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
And they'll be like, oh, they're stealing Wingate cheers and
to Hatchie, so like people know about it, Uh huh?
Is that friendly? Is it just fun?
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Or you know what? Tra Hatchie. Some of the fans,
they'll be nice to me, but some of them will
like try to jump you or things like that. But
it don't hurt me though. I don't say bad stuff
to them. But those other fans from there, they they
say it. But I said, I'm just here supporting Wingate. Bears.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Sometimes Jones is not the only one. We asked them all.
Sometimes we had to tell the fans, the other fans,
the Lister fan we had, we had to tell them
to leave because they're misbehavior. Sometimes the fans gets out
of hand. So we had to protect our team, the coaches,
the cheer leaders, and the fans make sure nobody gets
(23:22):
in trouble. We told them say, we don't tolerate what
is right here. Okay for you to leave the game
if you're going to be in had that habit.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
That brings me to something else I heard about when
I was asking people about you, because a lot of
people know you as like the super fan. They were
telling me that oftentimes security has to travel with you. Yes,
and that is we get high school security, so they'll
go with you to Tohatchie.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Yes to Hatchi or ship Rock, especially in the room.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
You have to watchie ship Bro, you're the worst one
ship ro when it's fact full. Whenever we have a
t ship playoff. In no way we can't control over
twenty five hundred people. So they had to call on
a ship law enforcement to come out and or lamp
(24:16):
phone calledege serve to assist us the Ruts. They're okay
because the Rute they always had the law enforcement right.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
When security would have to travel with the team to
another town like ship Rock, he would They would leave
the school and he's there at the school, and then
they travel to Shiprock and somehow he's first in line
and they're like, you were still at the school and
we left. How did you pass us and get there
and be number one in line?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
He has his ways.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I guess it's true. He had. He had some wing
Gate superpowers.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
And have you had to use them?
Speaker 4 (24:53):
No? Actually, the security will just watch us. But I
know what I'm doing at the game, what I'm saying,
So they say, you guys, watch shones. They don't want
nobody to get hurt and stuff like that. So that's
how the security comes along.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Oh, I think that's smart, especially if you're saying that
they can jump you. You know, I mean, nobody needs
to get hurt over this.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Yeah it happened before. Oh gosh, yeah, it happened before.
And you know, if somebody says something to me I
don't like, and that's when I turn around and I
turn around and I say, hey, how would you feel
if you were in my shoes if I say something
to you, but my fans of wing Gate they'll look
(25:42):
out for me.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
They will, Yeah, because you have like a big crowd
that you seem to travel with and insecurity mentioned earlier.
When the team travels, Jones travels and it's a big production.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
I usually get a charter bus from the Navajo Nation.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
How big are those bus?
Speaker 4 (26:11):
It's a it's a like those Greyhoun bus those big wow,
like fifty I think it was fifty people that will fit.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
One time when the boys make the playoff, Jones, what
it hit and you make a reservation? Then you ran
a charger bush.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
I had to pay out of my own pocket.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I can't imagine. I'm sure it's very expensive.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
They give me a discount because they say, oh jonesy bear. Yeah,
if people wants to go to the game that far,
I collect money.
Speaker 5 (26:43):
All the parents they went for it, and all that
charger bush. Everybody filled it up and they left for
Chover City.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
When I rent that bus less than thirty minutes, it
was already full.
Speaker 5 (26:55):
The next day following Monday, asked jes Hell's everything going
pretty good? He said, where do you like it? Enjoying it?
Speaker 1 (27:03):
I'm sure, that's a fun trip, are you guys chanting
and cheering the whole way down to wherever you go?
Speaker 4 (27:08):
Yes, these games are far.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Like you said, you went to Las Crucis, that's pretty far.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
I've been to Las Cruisis, down to the south, Hobbs, Roswell, Deming,
Silver City out that way, ARCHIESI up for Dallas, then
up north to tows west Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
And so these are like over four hours in a bus. Okay.
I actually heard a story about the bus breaking down
and the opposing team's bus also been there, or I'm
not sure what exactly that story was. Do you know
what I'm talking about?
Speaker 4 (27:47):
Wing. It was going to Albuquerque State tournament. We're right
there on I forty. Our bus broke down, and we
were all getting mad, and we're mad at the bus driver.
Call back to the school, maybe they can bring another
bus or something, and and then finally they brought another bus,
(28:12):
so we all jump in that bus again we started
taking off to Albutcrique.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
So what was the confrontation with the opposing team.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
They said, you guys broke down. They were saying that
to USA says, we're here.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Now, we're here, So they were hackling you guys and
making fun of you.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
Yes, yes, yes, and they probably think that we're not
going to show up.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
One time they saw he was broken down somewhere or
like he was with a group of people and their
vehicle had broken down, and they passed them. And again
once they got to the high school where they were
supposed to play, him and his group were there first
in line, and it's like, weren't you just broken down
back there?
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Right then when our bus driver tried part, everybody jumped off.
Chaperone had our money, had our tickets too, so we
had to wait for them at the door, and then
finally we all went in. Once I walked in, I
started cheering, and there we go. The best high school
(29:17):
that really really likes Wingate cheer is out there on
the other side of Santa Fe, Polwaukee High School. They
just love our cheer. They always say, you guys, bring
in the crowd of Wingate fans. We packed that gym
over there, and that gymhos like maybe close to four thousand,
(29:43):
Like ship Rock. We even packed ship Rock. We packed Kurtland.
Now we have a soul out here at wing Gate
and Tahachi through.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
And these are all Native schools primarily.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Unfortunately, there have been instances where opposing fans have taken
exceptions to Jones's cheering.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
I watch out for myself. I'm a nice person. I
don't say bad stuff to other people at the ball
game and stuff like that. They can say to me,
I hear it. It don't hurt me. I don't want
to say bad stuff because of the school and the players.
I don't want them to look bad. Are Native basketball players,
(30:32):
especially He's high school. I have respect for them.
Speaker 5 (30:36):
Well, sometimes Jones is trying to protect the team, the
coaches and the fans, and it's the people, the gal
High fans they're start calling jonesy. But Jonesy is just
trying to keep himself everything. He's trying to protect the
wing Gates side and all these people in desk when
(30:57):
they make him mad and start throwing cussing at each other,
and then sometimes their security start coming in and they tall.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
One year there was a game at the real high school,
the Roue Hawks and Wingate. My sister she doesn't want
to go out that way because that's our second rival
local high school too. The route. Those guys are rude.
They just don't like me. One year Wingate was playing
(31:31):
out there. I don't know who said something inappropriate word
and stuff like that, and they were saying that it
was my cheering section right here, and I got the blame.
They were pointing at me. The referee went to the principal.
The principal came went to Coach Martinez. They Coach Martinis
(31:54):
looked at me. We have to ask Cortie. Out at
the real high school, there was state police. There was
now whole police. There was a sheriff. Wing Gate fans
that were saying that what's next, the National Guard, the
whole fans at the rough they were just cheering away. No, no, no, no, goodbye,
(32:14):
Jonesy Bear. There's another person over there in through. He'll
be standing up and pointing at me and all this
and that. He'll say all kinds of stuff to me.
If wing Gates playing that through, when people are in line,
he'll ask somebody to jump me. And it happened before
(32:35):
out there.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Have you been hurt from this, No, like not physically. No,
it just gets it stops before it happens.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Yeah, if one of the wing Gate fans in line
behind me or and stuff like that, they will like
protect me.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
This animosity can be harmful and destructive.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
One year I lost everything, like sharing bag. I don't
know how people got my bag. I believe that when
they played Tahatchi at wing Gate, somebody took off with
my stuff and I could I didn't. I didn't know
that I missed it. When I got home and I
(33:18):
started try looking for my bag, and I said, what
happened to my wing Gate bag? I have a big
old bear that sits on the bleacher too. I was
busy with him. The next day, somebody destroyed all my stuff.
They cut everything piece to piece, my wing Gate shirt,
(33:40):
all my signs. They brought it back the next day
threw all over the parking lot at wing Gate. I
don't know when they did that, but the next day
one of the staff they call me, goes Jonesy, you
know what we found here stuff? But if they're all
destroyed hurt me.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
So some people are really taking the heart. How big
of a fan and impact you have?
Speaker 4 (34:07):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Does that scare you?
Speaker 4 (34:10):
It was before, but then you know that was my experience.
So that's when my sister said that you need to
stop going to games. Now we care about you, and
you know I know those fans. Wing Gate fans, they
care about you, they protect you and stuff like that,
but look what they did.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
This tension with through has some irony to it.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
I living through during the day like this. All my
days off, I don't go nowhere. If I'm gonna go
to the store, I gotta wait, I'm gonna wait and tell,
like when they're not busy. But sometimes I go over
there and then all of a sudden people start coming in.
They said, they look at me, jonesy bears here.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
So you literally have to live your life in your
town around you not being liked by them.
Speaker 4 (34:59):
Yes, yes, I went to school at the route. They
always bring that up. You went to school at the roof.
Why you don't like the root Hawks.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
One of my biggest questions this whole time is who
is Jones Outside of Wingate basketball.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
I started working with the State of New Mexico with
Magistrate Court here in Gallop for about maybe twelve thirteen years.
I left. I went to Wingate Elementary, working there for
about maybe three years. Then I went down to the
high School. I went there for two years. Then I
came back to the state, back to Gallup here. I
(35:36):
started working here at Earl's Restaurant for almost twenty years.
Then I started working with home care and I used
to work out on the reservation in Arizona. My mom
is from th Roux and my aunt my uncle's out
there in throu Some of their grandkids they played for
the Roux. And when basketball season comes around, and then
(36:02):
then that's when I don't talk to them, especially when
they play wing games.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Because you don't want it to interfere with your personal life.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Yes, okay, And how the basketball season is over, that's
when we we get back together the family.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
And they understand that.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
They don't take a personal They understand that.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
And what do you do when you're not cheering for basketball?
Speaker 4 (36:25):
When I'm at home, I go through all my books.
When there's no games. When the season's over, I start
taking out all my stuff and I go day by
day looking at those picture except these are the days
that we went. Then I go for a drive and
stuff like that. I wish there was more more games
(36:50):
a year.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
This episode of Burn Stage, Burn Bridges was written and
produced by my Well, Max Williams, and Dylan Fagan. The
voices you heard in today's episode were Kim BISSENTI Sean Martinez,
Jones Bigue, and Bill Bissenti. Additional thanks to the Next
Step Program, Doghouse Media, and my mom for exposing me
to the world of wingate basketball. Remember to listen and subscribe.
(37:19):
New episodes come out every Wednesday. Thank you for listening.
This is Burnsage Burn Bridges. I'm your host, Nicole Garcia.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
To me, the definition of res ball is a bunch
of res kids getting together with no rules. It's just
you and like six of your cousins playing together.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
This is my friend Kim, who we will be hearing
from throughout the episode.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
It gets pretty wild. I mean it could be a
combination of like basketball, soccer, wrestling. Sometimes you don't even
have a goal, or you have a goal but there's
no net, it's just the rim. Sometimes you're playing with
the basketball. Sometimes you play with football. There is no
rules and it's just the six of you playing because
you're at Grandma's house and there's nothing else to do.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Res Ball is extremely popular in native communities. In today's episode,
I want to explore the many important aspects beyond the game.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Reds Ball for me is running gun fast pace. There's
no slowing down. You're always on the run. For me,
I mean shooting the three, taking in into the hole,
your dirt road, your dirt court. You know where to
dribble and not to dribble, and where to shoot from
and how to hit the backboard because it's not very stable.
Just res ball is home court basketball that I'm used to.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
This is Sean Martinez who is living the NBA dream,
but in a different way than you would expect.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I think one of the biggest things I've learned in
life is to always be ready for that right place,
right time. And it was the right place, right time
when I was hired by the Denver Nuggets in Denver
in two thousand and two, I was ready to take
on the challenge.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
This challenge started with coordinating and DJing, leading to the
director of live presentation for both the Phoenix Suns and
the Phoenix Mercury.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I think I might be the only Native American that's
in this position in all the leagues. No one said
no when Native American News put that out there. That's
kind of how my journey really started in the NBA
and that little kid in forty Finance real Perco dreaming
of making to the NBA. This is my way to
get in and it was really a blessing to be
(02:18):
a part of that journey. I started DJing in college.
I used to hang out by the DJ booths and
they fired the DJs and told me I was up.
I'm like, what, I don't know what I'm doing? So
I taught myself out of DJ how to make how
to do all the little things. And I DJ's with
the guy who worked for the Denver Nuggets, and he's like, hey,
applied for this job, you know, And I applied, I
(02:39):
got the job. I worked for Let's Go the Nuggets,
the Avalanche, the Mammoth, the Rapids won a championship with
the Rapids. The Colorado Crush won a championship with John
Lway and the Colorado Crush. I worked for the Rockies,
I worked for the Broncos, every team in Denver I
worked for just to get my start and learn the
whole business of arena entertainment if you will, live presentation,
(03:04):
and then just like parleying that and get them recruited
to Detroit, where my boss who hired me in Denver,
went out there. So he brought me out there to
kind of do that kind of thing. But in Denver
on the Native American air this night, I'd round the
ball the powwow style dancers to come in and dance,
bringing a drum, educate people in the different styles of dance.
When my mom was younger, she'd made a hundred Frybreds.
(03:27):
Everyone always remembers that, Hey, I remember when your mom
made all that friy red and we had to eat
at the stadium. And when I got to Detroit, it's like, man,
where all the natives at? Like I got to find him.
And I went up north and found some sag Chip
Native Americans up there, went to one of their picnics,
just introduced myself, and man, I felt like I was
at home when I went to their picnics, because it
(03:47):
just felt like I was back on the Reds. I
did six years with the Detroit Pistons and now I'm
back home through the pandemic. This job opened and I
applied and I didn't have one live interview. They were
all either zoom or something. And I got the job
and I got home and things just kept rolling. It's
the home team. It's close to home. I drive five
hours and I'm back home, which is amazing. And I
(04:10):
love seeing all our THENT people at the game. I'm
always waving and trying to get on the screen, so
trying to give back and make sure they can experience
what I'm experiencing because I just I love that part
of it.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Nobody really knows that somebody is in the NBA who
grew up just like everyone else out here, you know,
And it's a different route because I didn't even understand
this job. I understand a DJ, but I don't understand
like you can actually produce an NBA game. For instance,
like when you're working with the Suns, there's the DJ
that you're kind of looking over, so you're just you're
not doing that anymore. You're doing more the bigger picture.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I'm directing the game outside of the game, so I'm
in charge of anything that the players are not doing,
from the gorilla to the dance team, to the entertainment team,
to the dunkers, to the DJ, to the video to
the animations. You see, I'm directing all that. I start
with the script, but if things changed during the game,
(05:07):
you kind of follow the vibe of the room and
the vibe of what's happening in the game, and I'm
directing all the madness.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
It's kind of like a live TV show, all of
this stuff happening. But usually there's a huge team of
people working on stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Right, it's me and I have my six people who
work under me. Under that, it's all our entertainers. So
forty entertainers, if you will. And then the game production crew,
which is my control room camera crew. We're all putting
this big piece of entertainment together and trying to entertain
fans and make sure they have a good time. Whether
(05:40):
you win or lose, everyone's like, wow, that was a
good time.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I've seen a couple of games I think like, maybe
no shade, but Oklahoma, there's no sound sometimes and I'm like,
that's happening.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
It's feels so weird.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, we try to play music, make sure that players
get their dribble up music and their big songs and
their sound effects.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
It seems like it's just very short clip bits of songs.
What music is chosen? Is that based off of your
own preference or are you going off the team, are
you going off the fans?
Speaker 4 (06:10):
What are you like?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Looking at every single one of those elements and then
whatever the element is and then heal in the room.
I have a sheet, it's kind of a music sheet
that has hot timeout songs, defense songs, back in the
game songs. Just in case you forget what you're doing,
you can just look at this number and punch it
in and ready to go. That was one of the
(06:31):
first things I was taught when I started learning the
arena DJ sound because I DJ's Women's Final Four, I
DJ's All Star Games. Me and DJ Automatic, we like
the East Coast, Like any of those East Coast beats
are just so much harder. They feel like I'm gonna
dunk on you when I hear this song kind of
(06:51):
kind of beats. And then like if we're playing Golden
State or the Clippers, we take all the California artists out,
so we're not giving them any So we got to
think about those little things. But just making sure the
team knows we're here for them, we know we're all
on the same page trying to help each other win.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
That is something to think about when you're playing at
the Lakers. I'm sure you can't play any like you.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Know, Dreg. Yeah, if you can tie a song to
what's happening at wherever you're at, it always amplifies that
moment even more so. That's one of the things I
love doing and just making sure, Like to me, seventy
five percent of the room at a game is music.
When you can hear someone can hear their jam they're in,
(07:35):
they're instantly into whatever's happening.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
You really got to know the music. You really got
to know the part, not just the music, but like
the part of the song that's gonna hit. And then
it's for really short times. What are the rules.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
The rules are you can only play instrumentals when they're
dribbling up on offense, so it can't have any lyrics
for defense. It's got to have a defense. Cadence liked Benn.
So there are some rules and we really try to
abide by them.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Sean's doing a lot to represent Native people, and that's
not just by playing Redbone or giving us screen time
during games. He also helped create the iconic Phoenix Suns
twenty twenty two twenty twenty three city edition jerseys.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
The originative jersey was just an unbelievable undertaking that started
when I was in Detroit. They reached out to me
to be a consultant on the jersey, and all of
a sudden, things kept moving during the pandemic and I
ended up getting the job with the Phoenix Suns and
it was just an unbelievable program where we worked with
all twenty two tribal nations federally recognized tribal nations of Arizona,
(08:41):
the Inter Tribal Council, Phoenix Indian Center, Kahokia Unity. Everybody
had a piece and had an input on it. Jonathanz
who was president at the time when we were going
through the design work, he was definitely instrumental and giving
us feedback on the design. And just the great work
between Graham Wincott and Chris Grosch, a creative director, all
(09:03):
those people, all of us coming together and making sure
we tell the story of our people and we tell
it the right way and still listen, not thinking, oh,
here it is, we're gonna lay it out. When people
give us feedback, We're still listening, making sure we're fine
tuning in And where we ended up by the end
of the season was just unbelievable, just having the anthems
(09:24):
sung in our Dinnair language and Tahuna Optum, White Mountain,
Apache and hope, like this is on the biggest stage
in the NBA where we're having our people showcase their talents.
At halftime, we had Native American DJs here. I got
all twenty two tribal nations flags hung up permanently in
(09:44):
our pavilion here at Footprint Center, and just you know,
giving back and making sure our people had a voice.
Every time I booked an entertainment group, it wasn't go
out there and dance, it's tell us why you're dancing,
tell us why you're wearing the regalia, what's the dance about?
So you can educate our son's fan base on what
we're about. And all the tribes had a chance to
do that, which was an amazing, amazing thing that I
(10:07):
wanted to make sure it was one of the staples.
And how they talked about the Sipy Cure Patche Ground
dancers dancing a halftime in arena was so amazing, Hilo
River basket dancers, I mean, just all the different Denetta
and Nabo dancers. We had the guardians to have the
superied guardians of the Grand Canyon dancers in here and
they all explained what they were doing. It was so
(10:28):
cool to see that on our court, which was a
dedication to the jersey with this logo at center court.
Twenty two flag represents twenty two tribal nations of Arizona
and that was on the court and they were dancing
on a center court with all the twenty two tribal
nations were for Sun on the court and on the
jerseys that the sons were wearing, and the turquoise color,
(10:50):
the protection stone, all the little things that we researched
and made sure they came to life within this program.
Was just dreaming on the ress, this point being a
part of that. It just all came together. Something that
I've been working for my whole life. Can still tell
our story. Like we always say, we're still here. We're entertainers,
(11:11):
were artists, we're poets, we're professionals, letting people know we're
thriving and what is now the new America. I appreciate
the platform. I appreciate the connection. I appreciate being able
to amplify the voices of all tribal nations because we're
still here. We still have a story to tell, and
(11:34):
that's why I'm here. I believe that.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
For the rest of today's episode, let's move local and
talk about a super fan of high school basketball.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
From what I know about John Tipart, he was practically
at every single game, the ladest one to cheer like.
He really is high school's number one fan.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
People like to watch me at the game because I
cheer on the team. The fans, they said, oh, Jones
is here. Yes, Yes, this place is gonna rock. Yeah
A shay Yahi Jones, the gag outo Jonesy Bear. A.
(12:38):
That's my nickname. I'm Kii Jenny bush Ching. I got
that name from local radio station out in Gallup, which
is kg a K. Mister Dehi is the one that
called me jonesy Bear and shash Bernanti and what does
that mean? You're the main bear boss or something like that.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
I know he'd be on the radio because we'd be
listening in KGAK with Harrison Dehaya and there's a couple
of times, you know, you just hear a guy start talking.
Dad's like, oh, that's Jonesy Bear.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
To kick it off, let's first talk about Jones's origin story.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I went to Through High School for two years. Then
I transferred to Wingate High School for my junior and
my senior year. My sophomore year, even though I was
still in school in Through, I used to go to
a wing Gate basketball game. Back in those days, wing
Gate had a good team every year, and I started
(13:43):
following wing Gate from there on. And then my senior
year that's when I got really into it and I
started following them everywhere.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
So it's been quite a while.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
It's been thirty five to forty years.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
My knowledge Jonesy Bear came from Dad. You would come
home from work and I'm like, so, how was work?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
What'd you do?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
And one of my first questions was always did you
have to arrest anybody?
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Like?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
What was the exciting thing today? A good ninety five
percent time, it's like nobody everyone behaved. Then when it
came to games, I'm like, so did you arrest anybody?
What happened? Thing crazy? And he's like, we had to
escort Johnesy Bear out or we had to tell jones
Bear to come down a couple of times.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
He's our number one.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Then this is Bill Bisenti Kim's dad and former security
guard at Wingate High School.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
He's a pretty good friend, pretty good person. A lot
of everybody likes them, and he supported the Bears and
all the fans support him. I came to wing Gate
High School. I started working at nineteen ninety two and
now I was started as a janitor. So I just
worked there to about ten years later. Everybody just keep
(14:54):
about Jonesy, So I want to know who Jonesy is.
And finally, when the game in shorts, that's what he comes.
And then people telling us to what's the key? So well, now,
just what do you call him? Jonesy bear?
Speaker 1 (15:09):
As it comes to preparation, Jones's fanhood resembles something Sean
would do.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Before the game, we write everything down and then we
passed out the notes. This is what we're gonna say. Yeah,
Yego's hush Jego. That's I guess traditional of Wingate High
School Bears.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah, and it just means go Bears go, shush is bear.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Yes, go Bears go. Yego's shust diego. If Wingate is ahead,
like maybe ten to fifteen points or two or four
points behind, that's when I start running down the bleachers
and then I start saying yang with shush Jago as
loud as we can so our team can hear Yego
(16:01):
shut Jego. To me, I think it's it's a powerful
name for the school, the team. They want to hear it,
so they don't know that Oh Jones is here, So
we'll say Yego shut hego, Go Bears go.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
How many other ones did you come up with?
Speaker 4 (16:21):
And they make a foul and we start saying you
you you, yes, yes, yes, and all of you that
the team walks and then we say walking walking back
to through all the referees. They know who I am
when they make bad calls, and then we say liar, liar,
(16:42):
pets on fire.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
You guys get personal.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Yes, it's fun.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Speaking of the cheers, you have a lot of props
and it looks like you make a lot of them.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
We have bad calls sign, we have re reforce sale sign.
A sign that has an eye chart. I make those.
I passed those out to the fence and we show
it to the referee. They don't allow eye chart. Now
you'll be escorted out.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
I've seen you with like two by fours.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
That was funny. That was a homecoming game. I don't
know whose idea was it, but they then they said
we should make some noise makers. So my brother, my
whole family they got two by four. Then they cut
them up for me and then we started painting it.
What did we make like maybe twenty seid And we
took it to the game and everybody wanted more and
(17:38):
more and more. But they say it was too loud
and everybody was covering their ears, so.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
They're not allowed anymore.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
I still use it but it's not a two by
four now, it's like a half an inch board like thinner. Yeah, yeah, thinner.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
It doesn't make that much.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
And then I usually make like ten of them, and
then and I put the player's number, I have them
on there, or sometimes I put their name on there.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
They can bring those in during the regular season, but
when the district game comes up, we're not allowed any
posher or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
He's got so much energy, and he's doing all this
creative stuff, you know, and as far as like cheering
and creating different cheers and props. And I just think
it's super interesting because I'm like, I don't have that energy.
I'm so interested in that energy.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
True, it's like where do you get all your energy?
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Sir?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Like, sir, give me some of that energy. How on hear?
Speaker 1 (18:33):
I would love Like if I worked that hard for.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Anything, true, I'd be the president. I'd be invincible.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Here again, is Kim, who herself has ties to Wingate.
You graduated from my gay high school? Yes, yeay, go bears.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
He's been at it for to my knowledge, over over
thirty year years.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
See that makes sense because my dad was Wingate High
School for maybe thirty years, thirty five years maybe, and
see around that whole time, you always heard about John
zu Bear, so I'm sure forty years does not surprised me.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
That brings me to another question I was curious about
when I started talking about interviewing you. How do the
cheerleaders react to you because you're kind of like stealing
their shine.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
One time we went to the game, I said, we'll
give the cheerleader to opportunity to do their charing because
it seems that we're taking over the charing. So I
talked to them and it goes, we'll go with Jones,
so they'll look at me and I'll be charing and
then they just follow me. Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I don't think that's ever happened before. Like yours just
are like, we'll just go by this megafan and let
him lead us. Yes, and how is your relationship with
the coach and the team, and like the parents are
they just happy to have you on their side?
Speaker 4 (19:55):
The staff of Winge High School and the coaches, they
enjoyed me coming to the game. Jones will do the
action here, and you know, he'll do the show here.
I don't pay at the game. I go in free,
especially when they have a pre sale ticket while people
(20:18):
are all in line. I will never be in line.
They'll know that. I'll pick up my tickets. Coach Martinez
well gave me twenty forty tickets, fifty tickets. People will
call me. I will have maybe one hundred to two
(20:39):
hundred phone calls. They'll ask me, Jones, get me a ticket.
I need four, I need ten.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
So they do support you. Then they want you at
the games. Yes, wow, because if you know, people don't
know this, but I know people stand in line like
just trying to get in because it's not a big gym.
It's a very small school. So if you're trying to
get your whole family there, good luck.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
Yep, you got to be there early or they will
call me. They said, we'll ask Jows, He'll get tickets.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
If you want tickets from Jones, there is a condition.
You better be ready to cheer.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
I only do people that will be chairing with me.
Then I'll get tickets for them.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Oh so that's a trade off. Yeah, okay, and that
probably makes your cheering that much louder and that much
more energy.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Yes. And the basketball players they love it. They say,
we can hear you, we can hear you on the court.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
On the other side, what has your interactions been with
opposing teams. I'm sure that gets tricky.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
We'll say we have a home game and then our
rival high school is Tohatchie Cougars, and then the second
one is through Hawks. We'll start off with a hatchet Cougars,
but ever we come up with our chair. Now they
started saying that too, And now all these high school
(22:09):
around here, everybody's using my cheer.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Now I take the other school, the cheering everything that.
I think they get an idea. What Jonesy doing for
wing Gay High School.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Yeah, I've seen a TikTok on this. There's like res
basketball moms.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Uh huh.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
And they'll be like, oh, they're stealing Wingate cheers and
to Hatchie, so like people know about it, Uh huh?
Is that friendly? Is it just fun?
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Or you know what? Tra Hatchie. Some of the fans,
they'll be nice to me, but some of them will
like try to jump you or things like that. But
it don't hurt me though. I don't say bad stuff
to them. But those other fans from there, they they
say it. But I said, I'm just here supporting Wingate. Bears.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Sometimes Jones is not the only one. We asked them all.
Sometimes we had to tell the fans, the other fans,
the Lister fan we had, we had to tell them
to leave because they're misbehavior. Sometimes the fans gets out
of hand. So we had to protect our team, the coaches,
the cheer leaders, and the fans make sure nobody gets
(23:22):
in trouble. We told them say, we don't tolerate what
is right here. Okay for you to leave the game
if you're going to be in had that habit.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
That brings me to something else I heard about when
I was asking people about you, because a lot of
people know you as like the super fan. They were
telling me that oftentimes security has to travel with you. Yes,
and that is we get high school security, so they'll
go with you to Tohatchie.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Yes to Hatchi or ship Rock, especially in the room.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
You have to watchie ship Bro, you're the worst one
ship ro when it's fact full. Whenever we have a
t ship playoff. In no way we can't control over
twenty five hundred people. So they had to call on
a ship law enforcement to come out and or lamp
(24:16):
phone calledege serve to assist us the Ruts. They're okay
because the Rute they always had the law enforcement right.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
When security would have to travel with the team to
another town like ship Rock, he would They would leave
the school and he's there at the school, and then
they travel to Shiprock and somehow he's first in line
and they're like, you were still at the school and
we left. How did you pass us and get there
and be number one in line?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
He has his ways.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I guess it's true. He had. He had some wing
Gate superpowers.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
And have you had to use them?
Speaker 4 (24:53):
No? Actually, the security will just watch us. But I
know what I'm doing at the game, what I'm saying,
So they say, you guys, watch shones. They don't want
nobody to get hurt and stuff like that. So that's
how the security comes along.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Oh, I think that's smart, especially if you're saying that
they can jump you. You know, I mean, nobody needs
to get hurt over this.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Yeah it happened before. Oh gosh, yeah, it happened before.
And you know, if somebody says something to me I
don't like, and that's when I turn around and I
turn around and I say, hey, how would you feel
if you were in my shoes if I say something
to you, but my fans of wing Gate they'll look
(25:42):
out for me.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
They will, Yeah, because you have like a big crowd
that you seem to travel with and insecurity mentioned earlier.
When the team travels, Jones travels and it's a big production.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
I usually get a charter bus from the Navajo Nation.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
How big are those bus?
Speaker 4 (26:11):
It's a it's a like those Greyhoun bus those big wow,
like fifty I think it was fifty people that will fit.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
One time when the boys make the playoff, Jones, what
it hit and you make a reservation? Then you ran
a charger bush.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
I had to pay out of my own pocket.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I can't imagine. I'm sure it's very expensive.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
They give me a discount because they say, oh jonesy bear. Yeah,
if people wants to go to the game that far,
I collect money.
Speaker 5 (26:43):
All the parents they went for it, and all that
charger bush. Everybody filled it up and they left for
Chover City.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
When I rent that bus less than thirty minutes, it
was already full.
Speaker 5 (26:55):
The next day following Monday, asked jes Hell's everything going
pretty good? He said, where do you like it? Enjoying it?
Speaker 1 (27:03):
I'm sure, that's a fun trip, are you guys chanting
and cheering the whole way down to wherever you go?
Speaker 4 (27:08):
Yes, these games are far.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Like you said, you went to Las Crucis, that's pretty far.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
I've been to Las Cruisis, down to the south, Hobbs, Roswell, Deming,
Silver City out that way, ARCHIESI up for Dallas, then
up north to tows west Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
And so these are like over four hours in a bus. Okay.
I actually heard a story about the bus breaking down
and the opposing team's bus also been there, or I'm
not sure what exactly that story was. Do you know
what I'm talking about?
Speaker 4 (27:47):
Wing. It was going to Albuquerque State tournament. We're right
there on I forty. Our bus broke down, and we
were all getting mad, and we're mad at the bus driver.
Call back to the school, maybe they can bring another
bus or something, and and then finally they brought another bus,
(28:12):
so we all jump in that bus again we started
taking off to Albutcrique.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
So what was the confrontation with the opposing team.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
They said, you guys broke down. They were saying that
to USA says, we're here.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Now, we're here, So they were hackling you guys and
making fun of you.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
Yes, yes, yes, and they probably think that we're not
going to show up.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
One time they saw he was broken down somewhere or
like he was with a group of people and their
vehicle had broken down, and they passed them. And again
once they got to the high school where they were
supposed to play, him and his group were there first
in line, and it's like, weren't you just broken down
back there?
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Right then when our bus driver tried part, everybody jumped off.
Chaperone had our money, had our tickets too, so we
had to wait for them at the door, and then
finally we all went in. Once I walked in, I
started cheering, and there we go. The best high school
(29:17):
that really really likes Wingate cheer is out there on
the other side of Santa Fe, Polwaukee High School. They
just love our cheer. They always say, you guys, bring
in the crowd of Wingate fans. We packed that gym
over there, and that gymhos like maybe close to four thousand,
(29:43):
Like ship Rock. We even packed ship Rock. We packed Kurtland.
Now we have a soul out here at wing Gate
and Tahachi through.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
And these are all Native schools primarily.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Unfortunately, there have been instances where opposing fans have taken
exceptions to Jones's cheering.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
I watch out for myself. I'm a nice person. I
don't say bad stuff to other people at the ball
game and stuff like that. They can say to me,
I hear it. It don't hurt me. I don't want
to say bad stuff because of the school and the players.
I don't want them to look bad. Are Native basketball players,
(30:32):
especially He's high school. I have respect for them.
Speaker 5 (30:36):
Well, sometimes Jones is trying to protect the team, the
coaches and the fans, and it's the people, the gal
High fans they're start calling jonesy. But Jonesy is just
trying to keep himself everything. He's trying to protect the
wing Gates side and all these people in desk when
(30:57):
they make him mad and start throwing cussing at each other,
and then sometimes their security start coming in and they tall.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
One year there was a game at the real high school,
the Roue Hawks and Wingate. My sister she doesn't want
to go out that way because that's our second rival
local high school too. The route. Those guys are rude.
They just don't like me. One year Wingate was playing
(31:31):
out there. I don't know who said something inappropriate word
and stuff like that, and they were saying that it
was my cheering section right here, and I got the blame.
They were pointing at me. The referee went to the principal.
The principal came went to Coach Martinez. They Coach Martinis
(31:54):
looked at me. We have to ask Cortie. Out at
the real high school, there was state police. There was
now whole police. There was a sheriff. Wing Gate fans
that were saying that what's next, the National Guard, the
whole fans at the rough they were just cheering away. No, no, no, no, goodbye,
(32:14):
Jonesy Bear. There's another person over there in through. He'll
be standing up and pointing at me and all this
and that. He'll say all kinds of stuff to me.
If wing Gates playing that through, when people are in line,
he'll ask somebody to jump me. And it happened before
(32:35):
out there.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Have you been hurt from this, No, like not physically. No,
it just gets it stops before it happens.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Yeah, if one of the wing Gate fans in line
behind me or and stuff like that, they will like
protect me.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
This animosity can be harmful and destructive.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
One year I lost everything, like sharing bag. I don't
know how people got my bag. I believe that when
they played Tahatchi at wing Gate, somebody took off with
my stuff and I could I didn't. I didn't know
that I missed it. When I got home and I
(33:18):
started try looking for my bag, and I said, what
happened to my wing Gate bag? I have a big
old bear that sits on the bleacher too. I was
busy with him. The next day, somebody destroyed all my stuff.
They cut everything piece to piece, my wing Gate shirt,
(33:40):
all my signs. They brought it back the next day
threw all over the parking lot at wing Gate. I
don't know when they did that, but the next day
one of the staff they call me, goes Jonesy, you
know what we found here stuff? But if they're all
destroyed hurt me.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
So some people are really taking the heart. How big
of a fan and impact you have?
Speaker 4 (34:07):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Does that scare you?
Speaker 4 (34:10):
It was before, but then you know that was my experience.
So that's when my sister said that you need to
stop going to games. Now we care about you, and
you know I know those fans. Wing Gate fans, they
care about you, they protect you and stuff like that,
but look what they did.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
This tension with through has some irony to it.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
I living through during the day like this. All my
days off, I don't go nowhere. If I'm gonna go
to the store, I gotta wait, I'm gonna wait and tell,
like when they're not busy. But sometimes I go over
there and then all of a sudden people start coming in.
They said, they look at me, jonesy bears here.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
So you literally have to live your life in your
town around you not being liked by them.
Speaker 4 (34:59):
Yes, yes, I went to school at the route. They
always bring that up. You went to school at the roof.
Why you don't like the root Hawks.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
One of my biggest questions this whole time is who
is Jones Outside of Wingate basketball.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
I started working with the State of New Mexico with
Magistrate Court here in Gallop for about maybe twelve thirteen years.
I left. I went to Wingate Elementary, working there for
about maybe three years. Then I went down to the
high School. I went there for two years. Then I
came back to the state, back to Gallup here. I
(35:36):
started working here at Earl's Restaurant for almost twenty years.
Then I started working with home care and I used
to work out on the reservation in Arizona. My mom
is from th Roux and my aunt my uncle's out
there in throu Some of their grandkids they played for
the Roux. And when basketball season comes around, and then
(36:02):
then that's when I don't talk to them, especially when
they play wing games.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Because you don't want it to interfere with your personal life.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Yes, okay, And how the basketball season is over, that's
when we we get back together the family.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
And they understand that.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
They don't take a personal They understand that.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
And what do you do when you're not cheering for basketball?
Speaker 4 (36:25):
When I'm at home, I go through all my books.
When there's no games. When the season's over, I start
taking out all my stuff and I go day by
day looking at those picture except these are the days
that we went. Then I go for a drive and
stuff like that. I wish there was more more games
(36:50):
a year.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
This episode of Burn Stage, Burn Bridges was written and
produced by my Well, Max Williams, and Dylan Fagan. The
voices you heard in today's episode were Kim BISSENTI Sean Martinez,
Jones Bigue, and Bill Bissenti. Additional thanks to the Next
Step Program, Doghouse Media, and my mom for exposing me
to the world of wingate basketball. Remember to listen and subscribe.
(37:19):
New episodes come out every Wednesday. Thank you for listening.
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