Fritz
08-19-2003, 06:58 AM
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/6565044.htm
Dolphins get a tailor-made look
BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN
[email protected]
When Anna Starfas plops down on her sofa to watch a Miami Dolphins game, she is interested in one and only one statistic: jersey holes.
''Whenever there's a fight, and they start pulling on each other, I tell my husband, `Uh-oh, another hole, more business,'' Starfas said. ``The days after Dolphins games are my busiest days.''
Starfas has been the Dolphins' seamstress for the past decade, and makes a good chunk of her living darning jersey holes, stitching on names and numbers, shortening football pants, customizing jersey sleeves and tails, and satisfying every uniform need of finicky Dolphins equipment manager Tony Egues. Starfas also works for the Marlins and Panthers, but the Dolphins are by far her most regular and demanding customers.
Junior Seau likes his sleeves short, no cuffs. Jamar Fletcher likes his pants short, no waistband.
During a typical training camp day, it is not unusual for a member of the Dolphins staff to pay a half-dozen visits to Alterations By Anna, Starfas' Davie shop. Starfas and her staff often start work before dawn to complete the Dolphins' orders.
On a recent Friday morning, the Dolphins dropped by 30 pairs of uniform pants for altering and said they needed them right away. Starfas pulled three of her five seamstresses off their assignments and put them on Dolphins duty. In one hour, the pants were ready.
Later that morning, she got another visit from the Dolphins. They had just signed defensive lineman Tavares Jurineack and needed five jerseys with his No. 97 by that evening. By mid-afternoon, her staff had sewn all the numbers, the letters of his name, patches, and had tailored the jerseys for Jurineack. Then came another Dolphins request. Turns out one of the Marco Battaglia jerseys that had been altered earlier was missing the zigzag stitching on the little triangle inside the letter ''A,'' something the average fan would never notice, but a no-no in the eyes of Egues.
Egues said the Dolphins pay Starfas between $56,000 and $72,000 per year on alterations, which is high for an NFL team because of the volume. Egues is one of the pickiest equipment managers in the league, but it's something he takes pride in. Most teams use black markers to label their uniforms and practice gear. Egues won't hear of it. Thinks it looks messy. So, he orders 50 labels per player and coach, and has Starfas' crew sew a personalized label on every T-shirt, pair of shorts, laundry bag, glove, and girdle (lycra undershort).
He also has Velcro strips sewn into the waistbands of the pants or elastic placed on the bottom of the shirts to ensure the jerseys don't come untucked.
`LOOK GOOD'
''At the end of the day, my job is to make sure these guys look good on Sundays, and Anna is a big part of that,'' Egues said. ``We pay top dollar for her, but it's worth it because she and her staff are always at our disposal and they are very careful.''
Peek around Starfas' shop, and there are clues she is no ordinary seamstress. Giant spools of orange and aqua heavy-duty thread dwarf the other colors. Among the photos covering her walls are autographed glossies of Dave Wannstedt and Jimmy Johnson (''I made a suit for Jimmy Johnson and he gave me a kiss,'' Starfas says, blushing. ``That was a highlight for me.'')
Bags of NFL decals are stashed everywhere, as are piles of Dolphins' T-shirts and practice shorts, awaiting number tags. Starfas became the Dolphins seamstress 10 years ago, when the team began holding training camp two minutes away.
`HE DIDN'T BELIEVE ME'
''I remember the first time Tony called and asked if I wanted to do this,'' Starfas said. ``I told my husband that I was going to be working for the Dolphins and he didn't believe me.''
Starfas is a native of Greece and did not grow up watching American football. Neither did her staff, Thanghe Marquez de la Plata (Ecuador), Magalys Mederos (Cuba), Mercy Intriago (Ecuador), Laura Bravo (Mexico) and Odalys Lopez (Cuba). But being among the privileged few who can touch the Dolphins' uniforms, they have become casual NFL fans.
''My favorite was doing Dan Marino's No. 13 jerseys,'' said Marquez de la Plata. ``I would watch that shirt the whole game and know I had something to do with it.''
They all agreed on the same three names when asked whose jerseys require the most repair: Zach Thomas, Jamie Nails, Larry Chester.
''Jamie Nails annihilates his jerseys,'' Egues said.
``It comes back in shreds. Zach and Larry Chester are bad, too. Some guys can go the whole season with two jerseys in each color. But those three guys get about four games out of a jersey and then we have to throw them out. Not even Anna can fix them at that point.''
Chester, a 325-pound defensive lineman, said his jerseys have torn badly since high school.
''I'm always being held, grabbed and pulled on because I just charge into guys, so my jerseys finish the game in really bad shape,'' Chester said. ``I get it back from the seamstress and I can't believe how they fix some of those holes. I have some souvenir jerseys hanging in my closet from big games I've had through my career, and most of them are hanging by threads.''
Starfas said there was only one time she was not proud to see her work on television. It was 1996 and TV cameras showed a close-up of running back Karim Abdul-Jabbar from behind. The jersey read: Adbul-Jabbar.
Hey, nobody's perfect.
Dolphins get a tailor-made look
BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN
[email protected]
When Anna Starfas plops down on her sofa to watch a Miami Dolphins game, she is interested in one and only one statistic: jersey holes.
''Whenever there's a fight, and they start pulling on each other, I tell my husband, `Uh-oh, another hole, more business,'' Starfas said. ``The days after Dolphins games are my busiest days.''
Starfas has been the Dolphins' seamstress for the past decade, and makes a good chunk of her living darning jersey holes, stitching on names and numbers, shortening football pants, customizing jersey sleeves and tails, and satisfying every uniform need of finicky Dolphins equipment manager Tony Egues. Starfas also works for the Marlins and Panthers, but the Dolphins are by far her most regular and demanding customers.
Junior Seau likes his sleeves short, no cuffs. Jamar Fletcher likes his pants short, no waistband.
During a typical training camp day, it is not unusual for a member of the Dolphins staff to pay a half-dozen visits to Alterations By Anna, Starfas' Davie shop. Starfas and her staff often start work before dawn to complete the Dolphins' orders.
On a recent Friday morning, the Dolphins dropped by 30 pairs of uniform pants for altering and said they needed them right away. Starfas pulled three of her five seamstresses off their assignments and put them on Dolphins duty. In one hour, the pants were ready.
Later that morning, she got another visit from the Dolphins. They had just signed defensive lineman Tavares Jurineack and needed five jerseys with his No. 97 by that evening. By mid-afternoon, her staff had sewn all the numbers, the letters of his name, patches, and had tailored the jerseys for Jurineack. Then came another Dolphins request. Turns out one of the Marco Battaglia jerseys that had been altered earlier was missing the zigzag stitching on the little triangle inside the letter ''A,'' something the average fan would never notice, but a no-no in the eyes of Egues.
Egues said the Dolphins pay Starfas between $56,000 and $72,000 per year on alterations, which is high for an NFL team because of the volume. Egues is one of the pickiest equipment managers in the league, but it's something he takes pride in. Most teams use black markers to label their uniforms and practice gear. Egues won't hear of it. Thinks it looks messy. So, he orders 50 labels per player and coach, and has Starfas' crew sew a personalized label on every T-shirt, pair of shorts, laundry bag, glove, and girdle (lycra undershort).
He also has Velcro strips sewn into the waistbands of the pants or elastic placed on the bottom of the shirts to ensure the jerseys don't come untucked.
`LOOK GOOD'
''At the end of the day, my job is to make sure these guys look good on Sundays, and Anna is a big part of that,'' Egues said. ``We pay top dollar for her, but it's worth it because she and her staff are always at our disposal and they are very careful.''
Peek around Starfas' shop, and there are clues she is no ordinary seamstress. Giant spools of orange and aqua heavy-duty thread dwarf the other colors. Among the photos covering her walls are autographed glossies of Dave Wannstedt and Jimmy Johnson (''I made a suit for Jimmy Johnson and he gave me a kiss,'' Starfas says, blushing. ``That was a highlight for me.'')
Bags of NFL decals are stashed everywhere, as are piles of Dolphins' T-shirts and practice shorts, awaiting number tags. Starfas became the Dolphins seamstress 10 years ago, when the team began holding training camp two minutes away.
`HE DIDN'T BELIEVE ME'
''I remember the first time Tony called and asked if I wanted to do this,'' Starfas said. ``I told my husband that I was going to be working for the Dolphins and he didn't believe me.''
Starfas is a native of Greece and did not grow up watching American football. Neither did her staff, Thanghe Marquez de la Plata (Ecuador), Magalys Mederos (Cuba), Mercy Intriago (Ecuador), Laura Bravo (Mexico) and Odalys Lopez (Cuba). But being among the privileged few who can touch the Dolphins' uniforms, they have become casual NFL fans.
''My favorite was doing Dan Marino's No. 13 jerseys,'' said Marquez de la Plata. ``I would watch that shirt the whole game and know I had something to do with it.''
They all agreed on the same three names when asked whose jerseys require the most repair: Zach Thomas, Jamie Nails, Larry Chester.
''Jamie Nails annihilates his jerseys,'' Egues said.
``It comes back in shreds. Zach and Larry Chester are bad, too. Some guys can go the whole season with two jerseys in each color. But those three guys get about four games out of a jersey and then we have to throw them out. Not even Anna can fix them at that point.''
Chester, a 325-pound defensive lineman, said his jerseys have torn badly since high school.
''I'm always being held, grabbed and pulled on because I just charge into guys, so my jerseys finish the game in really bad shape,'' Chester said. ``I get it back from the seamstress and I can't believe how they fix some of those holes. I have some souvenir jerseys hanging in my closet from big games I've had through my career, and most of them are hanging by threads.''
Starfas said there was only one time she was not proud to see her work on television. It was 1996 and TV cameras showed a close-up of running back Karim Abdul-Jabbar from behind. The jersey read: Adbul-Jabbar.
Hey, nobody's perfect.