The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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60 THE WOLVERINE ❱ FEBRUARY 2025 BY ANTHONY BROOME T he Players Trunk has become a known platform for college and pro athletes to sell and unload some of the team-issued gear they wore during their playing careers. Its origins can be traced back to the Michigan men's basketball program. Former student managers Jason Lan- sing and Austin Pomerantz, who worked with the program during the John Beilein and Juwan Howard eras, founded The Players Trunk along with Hunter Pomerantz, a Syracuse grad and Austin's brother, and former U-M players Charles Matthews and Zavier Simpson. "As team managers, we woke up at the crack of dawn for four years to work with the players at Crisler Center and the Carrier Dome," their official website reads. "We were endlessly inspired by their passion. Spending countless hours with them, they became our brothers. They ignited a fire in our bellies — the likes of which we never felt. So, when Charles Matthews got injured during his NBA tryouts, or when Zavier Simpson unsuccessfully tried to sell some of his game-worn uniforms, we partnered off the court and The Players Trunk was born." Lansing and Austin Pomerantz were in the sport management program in Ann Arbor and met through a mutual desire to be part of a team and stay near the game of basketball. "I originally wanted to be a manager just from seeing my brother, who was a year older at Syracuse, and he was a basketball manager," Pomerantz said. "I just got to hear about his experiences and also wanted to stay close to the game. When I got accepted into the University of Michigan, I looked it up online, found out who the head manager was and im- mediately showed interest. I sent him an email [telling him] that I was visiting campus, got to meet with him and just kind of stayed in touch. "I went through the application pro- cess and was fortunate enough to be- come a manager, which is how I met my best friend, Jason, and started this com- pany. So, without becoming a manager, I don't know if The Players Trunk would have been started, which is pretty crazy." Lansing chimed in with his back- ground saying, "I went to a pretty small high school. I always wanted to make Michigan smaller and sort of get a group of guys who I could be friends with and sort of make it a smaller community and love basketball. "I wanted to be around the game and wasn't good enough to play anywhere in college. [I viewed] being part of the pro- gram as an opportunity to be around the game and also develop the relationships that I was able to with Austin and meet- ing my best friend for life and a bunch of other guys that I stay in touch with. "That was the goal for me. One thing led to another, and that's sort of how The Players Trunk was eventually born." The genesis of the idea came following the COVID-19 pandemic where there was some professional uncertainty in each of their lives. They used the time productively to come up with the idea for the company. "We were unsure about jobs, intern- ships, and there were only so many hours of Netflix that we could possibly watch," Pomerantz said. "Honestly, this was like the perfect sort of timing for it, where we had a lot of downtime. It was actu- ally pre-NIL, so this was before players could make money off T-shirts, hoodies, custom merchandise, or any of that sort of thing." The Players Trunk now features doz- ens of teams and schools on the site, and it all stemmed from the former players building their connections through the college and professional ranks. "I think the athlete community is really small, and a lot of guys grow up playing against each other in the same circuit," Pomerantz said. "And so, once we did well by Charles and Zavier sell- ing their stuff and a few other guys, word starts traveling. 'Hey, I can make some pretty good money just getting rid of items that I'll never have any use for again.' "One player tells another, and they see in their locker room they're clearing their ❱ WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Former Hoops Managers, Players Growing 'The Players Trunk' Jason Lansing (left) and Austin Pomerantz (right) became close friends with Zavier Simpson (cen- ter) and Charles Matthews (not pictured) as U-M student managers, not knowing they would one day become business partners. PHOTO COURTESY OF AUSTIN POMERANTZ