Valley Natives Pour Hearts and Souls into Seahawks Jobs

By BETH ZAINWEL
KAMIAK HIGH SCHOOL

SEATTLE — Elisabeth Kanyer steps onto the turf at Qwest Field. Surrounded by thousands of empty seats — which hold 67,000 fans on game day — she marvels, “This is pretty cool!”

This is her “work home.” And she loves to show it off.

“I remember my first time on the field, just thinking, ‘Good grief! This is insane!’” she says, standing in front of the ground-level “Red Zone” suites. “I love bringing people here, giving (them) a players’ perspective, what the players see.”

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, the stadium is quiet, and she’s able to enjoy the view. But during games, her job includes lots of running around.

So, “Comfortable shoes are key,” she says. “I will literally check every suite. All 115.”

Kanyer, who goes by Lis, and co-worker Teresa Morales are Yakima Valley natives who work for the Seattle Seahawks. Both started as interns.

Today, Kanyer is starting her third season with the team; Morales, her fourth. Kanyer works as a suite services coordinator. Morales is an account executive.

Bill Chapin, director of marketing and partnership development, helped hire both of them.

“Teresa is highly intelligent, passionate about working with others and making a superior product, very thorough,” he says. “People enjoy being around her; Teresa is very good at making people feel comfortable.”

And, “Lis is very charismatic and hard working. Immediately when people work with Lis, they want to do their best. It’s perfect that she’s taking care of suite holders. She’s so friendly. It’s hard not to like Lis.”

Morales graduated from the University of Washington in 2006. Kanyer is a 2007 Pacific Lutheran University graduate.

“My first week on the job as an intern, I had to take a ton of stuff to get signed by all the players,” Kanyer says.

But that’s unusual: “We don’t see them on a regular basis,” the 25-year-old adds, adding she “lucked out” getting a full-time job with the organization: “It’s a blessing.”

Her dad likes it, too: “It’s exciting to have her work for the team because it just another reason to root for the Seahawks,” says 50-year-old Doug Kanyer of Yakima.

“She really likes it, and it fits her well,” says her mom, 48-year-old Laurie Kanyer.

Kanyer and Morales both credit their Yakima Valley upbringing with the foundation for their future careers. Each stresses the importance of education and a strong work ethic.

“Grandview gave me the morals that have pushed me through,” says 24-year-old Morales, a 2002 Grandview High School graduate.

“There’s no way would I be here if I hadn’t had the schooling I received at Davis,” says Kanyer, a 2001 Davis High School graduate. “There’s no way I would be here if it wasn’t for the way I was brought up in Yakima.”

Kanyer now lives in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood, but admits she misses Yakima: “I love going home.”

Morales lives in Renton. But her parents travel to Seattle for many Seahawks games. One of the perks of working for the team is a pair of tickets to every home game.

“I think are parents are proud of us, where we are in our lives,” Kanyer says. She and Morales both say they enjoy their jobs.

“When I started as an intern, I was a little intimidated,” Kanyer admits. “But I don’t feel like that now at all. We’re a team off the field as well.”

“Everyone is so humble in this organization,” she says. “Everyone works together.”

Her boss agrees: “We do have a very tight-knit group that works hard together, and we have a lot of fun together,” Chapin says.

Before going to work for the team, Morales had only been to one Seahawks game, and “I can’t even tell you who it was against,” she says.

Kanyer had been to numerous Seattle Sonics basketball games. But, “I’d never been to a (Seahawks) game,” she says. “I was a die-hard Sonics fan … I was really sheepish to admit that in the (job) interview.”

These days, both women work every home game, plus some away games, often arriving at Qwest Field at 6 a.m. and putting in 12-hour work days.

“You’re working every holiday,” Kanyer says. “You don’t get the vacation other people get.”

“We don’t really have an off-season,” she says.

“This is our life.”

• Beth Zainwel is 16-year-old junior at Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, Wash. She’s the sports editor of her school newspaper, The Gauntlet. Photographer Andrew Phan, 17, is a senior at Tacoma School of the Arts.
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