The yellow sticky note no longer hangs from Brandon Roy’s locker at the Rose Garden, but the words once scribbled out in red marker remain permanent: “Stay Humble.”

It’s a two-word mantra the Portland Trail Blazers all-star guard began living by long before he became the face of a resurging franchise or an $82 million man this last summer. It began back when he was just an 18-year-old kid hosing out shipping containers at the Port of Seattle for $11 an hour.

“I’d come home just dirty from cleaning out containers and moving boxes on the forklift. I’d have to clean the bathrooms. I’d drive truck back and forth between docks. Some days I’d have to just sweep,” Roy remembered as he leaned against his locker after yet another Blazers home win.

“I did whatever they need — I was the handyman.” 

Listening to Roy, 25, reminisce about working shifts at the Port of Seattle for seven months after graduating from Garfield High School in Seattle, Wash., it’s easy to see why he embodies humility. It goes beyond Roy embracing the role of Portland’s team leader or his maturation among the NBA’s brightest young stars. Like all of us, Brandon’s life experiences have made him who he is today. Yet he knows full well the hoop dreams he lives now were shaped by the advice passed along from his coworkers some eight years ago.

“I got the chance to meet the working man and we had some of the best conversations. They always told me, ‘Hey, when you go to college, you make the best of it. We don’t want to see you working here with us.’ I even remember in college, I wasn’t doing it for me. I was doing it for them too.”  

The journey to college wasn’t that easy. In 2002, Brandon’s collegiate eligibility at the University of Washington was at risk. While struggling with the SAT, he was diagnosed with a learning disability that makes taking timed tests extremely difficult. He wondered if he’d ever play basketball at Washington.

That led him to his job at the Port of Seattle.

“For me, it was a great experience. It really put things in perspective,” Roy continued, never fathoming the day his No. 3 Huskies jersey would hang from the rafters of Hec Edmundson Pavilion on the UW campus.

“People always ask me why you stay so grounded. I was there with the fans that go to the games and watch. I never forget that. I always have great respect for people that go out and work every day because they have to play their part as much as we do. Those guys were really cool guys and they weren’t fortunate to go play basketball and I was.”

Brandon will always remember those days.

“My biggest thing was to make the most of it but don’t forget where you come from.”