NEWS - Texas Southern University

Agent of HumilityTrevor N. MitchellKevin Poston“Sports is just a vehicle. Nomatter how good you are, it’sgoing to end.”Growing up in Saginaw, Mich., Kevin Poston had no idea he would end upbecoming a professional sports agent. His lifelong dream was to follow inthe footsteps of his father Charles Poston Jr., an attorney, and he did so for severalyears, quite successfully. In 1985, Postonearned his law degree from Texas SouthernUniversity’s Thurgood Marshall School ofLaw, graduating in the top five percent of hisclass.Poston jumped into the high-energy fieldof real estate law for a few years, becoming apartner at a major Michigan law firm. In1987, he entered into a development deal thatchanged the course of his life. Involved innegotiations for a new basketball arena, Postonfound himself mingling with team executivesand learning key points about the sports industry.An idea began to form and soon after, heand older brother Carl III, also an attorney,began contemplating the idea of walking awayfrom lucrative law careers and forming theirown professional sports agency. In November1989, the Postons did just that when theylaunched PSP – Professional Sports Planning.“We made up some brochures and businesscards when we attended our first NFL [event]in 1989,” Poston recalled. “They were thrown in a lot of trash cans at the time,but we just kept at it. People told me that I was crazy for leaving a job as a partnerin a major law firm to go and deal with fickle athletes.”From its humble beginnings, PSP has grown, currently representing about 50clients. Included on its roster are well-known athletes from an array of sports,such as New England Patriot Ty Law, Oakland Raider Charles Woodson,Rashard Lewis of the Seattle SuperSonics and WNBA standout Sheryl Swoopesof the Houston Comets. Though it has had its requisite growing pains, PSP isnow one of the premiere sports agencies in the nation.From the outside, PSP seems like most other sports agencies; the Postonswork closely with their clients, spending hours negotiating contracts andendorsement deals, and protecting their clients’ rights and image. But what setsthem apart is subtle, powerful, and immediately evident when talking to KevinPoston.“I expect them [athletes] to be men,” Poston explained. “Sports are just avehicle. No matter how good you are, it’s going to end. [But] you still have to bea man.”With that in mind, PSP gives each of its new clients a special documentto sign. Called the ‘PSP Creed’, the manuscript details everything the agency10 Summer 2004 • GENERATIONS OF PRIDE