“Have a good time, let’s have another celebration and clean our city the next day and represent the San Antonio Spurs, the Spurs way. The way that makes them proud.”
SAN ANTONIO — As Spurs fans celebrated a major playoff victory Saturday night, the festivities left behind more than memories along Southwest Military Drive.
By Sunday morning, a group of volunteers led by South Side business owner Norman Velez was already at work, collecting trash along a stretch of roadway that has become a gathering spot for Spurs celebrations.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy to pick up trash because that tells me that the Spurs won last night and everyone celebrated,” Velez said.
The volunteer effort covers Southwest Military Drive from Pleasanton Road to Commercial Avenue, where fans often gather after big Spurs wins, honking horns and celebrating late into the night. There are other volunteers who cleanup other parts of the roadway.
The cleanup helps remove litter that might otherwise be left for nearby businesses and property owners to handle.
Velez said the amount of trash increases significantly after major playoff victories, but he tries to focus on the positive aspects of the celebration.
“It is a little disheartening, but I have to remind myself that I can’t control what other people do,” he said. “We can just control what we do.”
A lifelong South Side resident, Velez said keeping the area clean is important because of his deep connection to the community. He attended local schools, owns Brewster’s Backyard Ice House near the cleanup route and lives nearby.
“When I drive through and I see it, it just bothers me to see our community looking dirty,” Velez said.
The volunteer group typically consists of between five and 15 people, depending on the day and the level of community participation. Sunday’s cleanup was expected to take about three hours as volunteers walked the route, collecting bags of trash and returning later to haul them away.
“We’ll walk all that distance and as we’re filling trash cans, we’ll leave the trash bag and keep going and going and going,” Velez said.
Despite the workload, Velez said the effort is about community pride rather than criticism.
While he encourages fans to clean up after themselves, he said he wants residents to continue celebrating Spurs success while also helping keep San Antonio clean.
“Have a good time, but let’s have another celebration and clean our city the next day and represent the San Antonio Spurs the Spurs way,” he said.
As the Spurs continue their playoff run, Velez hopes more volunteers will join future cleanup efforts. Those interested in helping can contact him through Brewster’s Backyard Ice House.
The cleanup effort has become a reflection of the community spirit that often accompanies Spurs basketball in San Antonio — celebrating victories while giving back to the city that rallies behind the team.