How a former Broadway designer contributes to the Baltimore Ravens’ NFL playoff success.
As the NFL playoffs begin, the Baltimore Ravens head into Wild Card weekend with hopes of winning the Super Bowl. Ebony Short, a former Broadway designer, may have played a role in Ravens players’ success with some of the special outfits they wear.
Short, who grew up as a Ravens fan just a few miles from the team’s headquarters, now oversees a crew of seamstresses who labor long hours to provide the Ravens an advantage on the field. Unlike most NFL teams that outsource their adaptations, the Ravens manage them in-house. Short and her staff labor relentlessly, frequently for 12 hours each day, to ensure that every piece of gear is perfectly customized.
One of her more prominent initiatives is fitting battery-powered hand warmers to two-time MVP Lamar Jackson’s jersey, which will keep him warm during frigid games. She also creates personalized jerseys for players like as linebacker Odafe Oweh, ensuring that they are suited to prevent opponents from pushing them back during plays.
How Short Got Her Start
Short received her first sewing machine for Christmas around the age of ten. Keith, her father and Pop Warner football coach, gave her her first sewing instruction.
“I was like, ‘Ebbie, come here, because I learned this in middle school in home ec,'” recalled Short’s dad. “We’re going to do the Bob in. “We are going to thread the needle.”
Short was hooked. She began making outfits for her dolls and, finally, her own prom attire.
She pursued her interest for fashion design at New York’s famed Parsons School of Design before working on major Broadway musicals such as “The Lion King” and “Cinderella.”
“It’s the problem-solving that really attracted me to theater,” Short told me.
Short turned down a position designing costumes for Cher in 2019 and instead joined the Ravens, where she has now developed her own team. She has moved from a small location off the equipment room to an office on the building’s commercial side, where she has developed a program to educate people how to sew for the team.
Kenico Hines, the Ravens’ head equipment manager, applauds Short’s efforts to the organization.
“It does not matter what we bring her. “She can get it done,” he stated.
As the Ravens pursue their Super Bowl hopes, Short’s job in the equipment room is critical to the team’s on-field success.
Short believes that her art is about more than just technical skills. It is also about confidence.
“If you look good, you feel good, and if you feel good, you play good,” she told me.
