Tar Heel's Ginyard drives lanes, takes tips

CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina's basketball season ended more than a month ago. But three nights a week on this town's crowded streets, sophomore Marcus Ginyard is still doing what he does best: working.

"Gotta go, gotta get there fast," Ginyard said Thursday evening, grabbing two tortilla wrap orders, racing to his 1995 pea-green-and-black Caprice Classic, and navigating toward South Campus. "People want their food fresh."

These days, it isn't the game that's on the line, but the tips. Ginyard, a player known for his defense and hustle, averaged 4.1 points per game last season. He's currently averaging about $2 a delivery.

Ginyard is one of only roughly 50 Tar Heel scholarship athletes -- out of about 700 getting a full or partial ride -- who work part-time while carrying a full course load and maintaining a rigorous workout schedule.

He started as a delivery guy for Franklin Street-based [B]Ski's Tortilla Wrap Grill after hoops season to save some extra rent money because he and several teammates are moving into a 3,100-square-foot house off campus. While earning minimum wage ($6.15 an hour) plus tips, he says he's learning something else: responsibility.

"It's kind of like practice: You have to be there on time, you have to be ready to work, and you have to be a member of the team,'' Ginyard said, cranking up the country music after being no-tipped on one delivery and pocketing $3 on the second. "And for me, I enjoy it, because I like talking to people, meeting people, surprising people."

NCAA rules changes

In 1998, the NCAA began allowing athletes on scholarship to work part-time during the school year. In 2003, it also canned the limit of $2,000 above full scholarship that athletes could make. In addition to Ginyard, several football players at Wake Forest and UNC defensive back Quentin Person took on part-time jobs.

Most players still don't have the time or desire to work during the academic year. But Ginyard said the NCAA rule changes were important because "I think a lot of people just assume athletes have spending money, and that's not always the case."

Working, though, is not without extra regulations.

Before he was allowed to don his black logoed T-shirt and top his car with a light-blue magnetized [B]Ski's sign, Ginyard had to fill out a form for the school's NCAA compliance office listing his salary, his hours, and how he was being paid.

Then Ginyard, his boss at [B]Ski's, coach Roy Williams and a school compliance officer had to sign a form confirming, among other things, that Ginyard would not receive pay or benefits not available to all employees; that he would be compensated only for work that he actually performs; and that he would be paid the going rate for his services.

No overtipping

Tips are the hardest thing to monitor, said Amy Herman, UNC's assistant athletics director for compliance. The school educates boosters and players about NCAA rules that prohibit athletes from receiving extra benefits. That means no suspiciously high tips.

"If someone gave me a $100 tip, I'd give it back -- or at least $90 or $95 of it,'' Ginyard said. No one has tried to give him more than $5, he said.

Ginyard and some teammates started hanging out at [B]Ski's when it first opened last summer, because the restaurant was open so late. He approached co-owners Bradley Smith and Blair Bellard last winter about working for them once the season was over. When they realized he was serious, they were happy to give him a chance. Ginyard said this is his first job, aside from working basketball camps.

"Marcus gets treated like everyone else and doesn't expect to get treated any differently,'' Smith said. The only difference: Bellard allows Ginyard to use her cell phone to call customers about their deliveries, so Ginyard's cell phone number doesn't get passed around campus.

"And I have gotten some calls at 2 in the morning, people saying, 'Hey, Marcus, what's up?' '' Bellard said, laughing.

Smith said it's hard to tell whether orders have increased since Ginyard started working there, although some customers have been pleasantly surprised to have a UNC basketball player show up with a brown bag of food, and a smile.

Ginyard, who plans to work through the summer and devote himself to basketball during the season, said he has only occasionally been asked for an autograph on the job. He gives it, although he's more focused on getting the customer's autograph -- on a credit card receipt.

"He hustles,'' Smith said, watching Ginyard grab three more orders and speed-walk toward his distinctive ride, which boasts 22-inch rims, plus a leftover driver's side spotlight -- it used to be a Maryland state trooper car.

"On the road to victory,'' Ginyard said, turning toward the South Campus dorms, again.