Thursday, Aug. 06, 2009
Running Back (and Forth) with Ricky Covington
Weekly Surge staff
Ricky Covington at LIndsey Wireless in Little River. - photo by Scott Smallin, Weekly Surge staff.
Although Rickey Covington has been a Myrtle Beach resident for only a year, he might just have a handle on the lay of the land like a seasoned veteran. At the very least, the drive from Murrells Inlet to Little River has by necessity been etched permanently into his psyche.
Originally from Rockingham, N.C., and later Marietta, Ga., Covington graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business management from Winston-Salem State University and played football there after overcoming a devastating family tragedy. “I had a brother who passed away right after I graduated from high school and it got to me really bad,” he says. “I decided to postpone college.” Because of his high school football skills, he was offered an opportunity by head coach Kermit Blount at Winston-Salem State, but Covington needed time to mourn. “After time passed for a little while, I came through and asked [Blount] if he would still honor his offer, and he said yes.” He played running back for two years at the university.
A frequent visitor to the Grand Strand, Covington made the move in large measure because of the prodding of his brother, Tony Cummings, who has been living here for more than two years. We asked him why the Grand Strand had such an appeal. “Why not the Grand Strand?” he enthuses. “You’ve got beautiful settings and wonderful people. People at the beach have a different attitude. Everybody here is always saying hello and when you wave, they wave back. It’s the people, man – that’s what makes it.”
He now manages both the Murrells Inlet and Little River locations of Lindsey Wireless, an authorized retailer for Verizon Wireless products, and brings a combined total of six years experience with Verizon to the table. “We have been in business for a year, but I came in and took over the stores about four months ago.” He was assistant manager at the VZ Plus store in Myrtle Beach, a corporate store, but that location closed along with many others in the region. “I got a call from [Lindsey Wireless proprietor] Bill Lindsey and accepted the responsibility to come in and try to have these stores flourish – and so far, so good,” he says.
Covington’s business skills come into play here, and his hours can be long. He works six days a week, alternating between the two locations. “I make sure that our customer service is A-plus, that my employees are trained correctly and that everybody is taking the proper steps to make sure that a person is on the right plan with the right amount of minutes and that these customers are satisfied when they leave my stores.” Although we live at the beach, he makes sure his employees don’t come to work dressed like a Parrothead. “I make sure my employees are dressed the part and that the little daily things are done – the floors, garbage – and giving expert service. When a customer comes in, they look at your employees and then look at the store, and it represents you.”
Having both ends of the beach covered is a smart move, to be sure, but we wonder if Covington ever needs to be at two places at the same time. “Sometimes a customer comes in to our Murrells Inlet location and I won’t have a specific phone in stock here. For that customer, I’ll get in my car and drive to the Little River location to pick up the phone they need and drive all the way back.” Going the extra mile becomes an 80-mile proposition in this case.
A grueling workweek can take its toll, but Covington says he tries to take care of himself. He has a passion for a mixed martial art discipline called Muay Thai. “It consists of elbows, fists, knees and shins,” he says. “I’ve been doing this for a year and a half, and it’s brutal on the shins, which are very delicate. In order to deaden the nerves in your shins, you have to keep kicking stuff consistently over and over. When I first started, I couldn’t even walk.” Feet are not used for kicking in this discipline.
Covington used to enjoy watching the sunset at the beach, but says he hasn’t seen the beach in six months. “The people that vacation here enjoy the beach – but a lot of people that live here never see the beach,” he laughs. He does, however, manage to get out occasionally with girlfriend Irene Thomas. “Every now and then we’ll go to the movies. We’ve been to the (now-defunct) Buddha Lounge and Rioz Brazilian Steakhouse once or twice. She’s kind of the eloquent type, so she likes going out – but I work so much that when I finally get a day off to take her out, it becomes a special occasion like Christmas or something.”
The Grand Strand will continue to be home. “I’m going to stay and put all of my energy into these stores,” he says. “I’ve built a lot of good relationships here, and it’s a place where I can see myself for years to come.”
Covington says he is grateful to aforementioned brother Tony and mother Patricia Cummings for being his “supporting cast.”
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