Dan Sinclair Blends Mentorship, Sports, and Comedy to Uplift South Jersey
EDITOR’S NOTE: The story was written based on an interview Dan Sinclair had with Editor Clyde Hughes.
BY MONIQUE HOWARD | For AC JosepH Media
ATLANTIC CITY — From football mentor to comedy producer, Dan Sinclair has built a reputation of giving back to the community, especially its young people along the Jersey shore.
A native of Ocean City and father of two adult children, Sinclair is today involved with the youth program Mentor of the Greens and youth football. His stock and trade, though, is producing comedy shows through his RockSolid Productions around the region. Helping people laugh – and the pandemic – took him nationwide.
“When COVID hit, Atlanta wasn’t really closed like the rest of the country,” Sinclair told Front Runner New Jersey.com. “Atlanta was about 50% open when everything else was shut down, and I saw an opportunity. So I went down there, jumped right in, and started making connections.
“Atlanta’s Festival of the Arts was a one-day festival that combined all the arts—visual art, music, body art, and other forms. There are about five elements of the arts that we displayed throughout the festival. At the same time, I was also doing comedy shows and producing certain events in Atlanta.”
A former prep football star at Ocean City High School, Sinclair said he has maintained his love for the game and the positive impact it can have on you later in life. In addition to his leadership at the Youth Gridiron Academy, a yearlong sports school with a focus on football located in Ocean City, he also coached at the high school level.
He said connected with James Cooper, who was living in Atlanta at the time but whom he knew earlier, about forming a youth organization
“That’s when Out of Bounds came in,” Sinclair said. “At the time, we were still doing comedy shows. I actually worked in an after-school program just to try to get my own after-school program started.
“That was the only job I took in Atlanta. Then they had the mass shootings in Millville, and we packed our bags for what we thought would be three weeks but ended up staying for three years.”
Mentor on the Green, a 10-week golf and mentorship program based in South Jersey for youth ages 9–18, was one of the programs that grew out of the return to South Jersey, which connects the game of golf and life skills. Presently, Mentor on the Green is being held at Wildwood High School every Friday.
Sinclair said his interest in youth, comedy and sports “all connected” because those were things he was passionate about.
“All the things I do in my life—being an entrepreneur, coaching kids, mentoring—are things I’ve been doing my whole life,” Sinclair said. “They’re connected to football, sports, entertainment, and working with youth. These are the things I know how to do: communicate with people and work with different personalities.”
Sinclair said there are always challenges in business and life but he found producing comedy remanined in his wheelhouse.
“Of course, there are bad days on the business side or the financial side, because sometimes things don’t work out,” Sinclair said. “But as far as the comedy aspect goes, there’s never really been a bad day.
“People have never walked into an establishment or environment that I created and left on a bad note. That’s my way of making sure I can give something positive to people—creating an environment where they can always have a good time.”
Sinclair is the owner of Atlantic City’s RockSolid Production and also provides a free mental health program for the general public.
He was also involved with starting Ocean City’s Juneteenth celebration while he was still living in Atlanta.
“When we did the first one in Ocean City, it was myself, Josh Baker, and Antwan L. McClellan, who is an assemblyman,” Sinclair said. “We’re all childhood friends, so we came together to organize the first event, and it was a huge success. The second one wasn’t as successful.”
Sinclair said he would like to continue being involved organizing Juneteenth events but is looking for a new location to host it.
In an interview with Front Runner New Jersey, Sinclair shares how he navigated his career transition from sports to organizing the Juneteenth celebration in Ocean City and working with high-profile celebrities like Kevin Hart.
FRNJ: How did you get started in comedy?
Dan Sinclair: A friend of mine—a teammate of mine—actually said they were looking for someone to do comedy in Atlantic City. I had no idea how to do comedy or produce comedy or anything like that, but I did know how to organize rent parties. So I figured it would be pretty much the same thing: getting people to come into a building.
When we got the building, which was Sweet Cheeks in Atlantic City—Kevin Hart was by all the time. We had to go find comedians. The owner of the club was open to allowing us to come in and do the show, but we had no comedians. So my partner and I went to New York, Delaware, D.C., and Philly to look for comedians. When we were in Philadelphia, we saw a guy who at the time was called Little Kev the Bastard, and we asked him to come host our show.
He hosted our show for two years before he went on to do Paper Soldiers and became Kevin Hart.
Once that happened, I kind of stayed in the game. I found a foothold in comedy and stuck with it while continuing to coach. I coached at Ocean City and I ran an NFL Flag Football program. Before COVID, with about 400 kids.”
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