Going to share here what I shared on FB:
It has been 28 years since I graduated from the University of Oregon. Today I took my last test to complete my Master’s degree.
Now, I have done it. I have graduated from the University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth with a Master of Business Administration. I earned a perfect 4.0 GPA during the course of my time at UMD and learned as much about myself as anything else.
Many people know this story, many people don’t. It really goes back to my childhood. Once upon a time, I wanted to play baseball; it was the sport I loved most as a child. I could run, I could play defense, I could make throws from center field to third base on a rope; but I could not hit – at all. I think during my eighth-grade season I had 2 hits in over 200 at-bats. Other sports caught my attention after 8th grade.
I ran track and cross country and briefly played football at Eastern Oregon. But when the vision of being a professional athlete dimmed, I turned my heart to where I could have sports be a part of me – front office work.
After I transferred from Eastern Oregon to the University of Oregon, I had a plan. Step one was to get a job as a management intern with the Eugene Emeralds. Shortly after starting at Oregon, the first step happened when I was hired as the Stadium Manager for the Ems. Step two was to attend Ohio University to pursue a Master of Sport Marketing. Step three was to work my way up in Major League Baseball.
Along the path, though, life threw me a curveball. Unlike Pedro Cerrano, I knocked that curveball out of the park on the first swing. That curveball, of course, was a separation and eventual divorce during my senior year at the University of Oregon. My sons Owen and Braden were five and two when I graduated, and I had made the very easy decision to be a dad and give up the dream of working in Major League Baseball.
So too did I pass on becoming the first member of my family to receive an advanced degree. It was all very real. It was all in front of me and I know my work ethic would have made the dreams a reality.
I am not sure if I ever told anyone this, but when I got the job with the Ems, I choked up as I walked home from the stadium. I knew then that my dreams had become something more realistic and tangible; they had become attainable goals.
After I made my decision to give up a career in athletics administration, I never looked back. I coached youth football, and baseball went to school plays, and parent-teacher conferences, and did everything a dad does. In 2007, I married my beautiful wife, Leslie. When our children got to a point where I could put more energy into work, I dove in headfirst.
In 2017 I started to think about that long-lost dream. For close to 20 years, I had harbored the thought of returning to school, but life seemed to get in the way of that until that year when everything changed. We chucked everything we knew and moved to South Carolina. It was there that I started truly considering a return to school.
My first course in 2019 was nerve-wracking. I was not sure I had the same ability as I had in those younger years. That course went by with ease – and then we moved back to Oregon (while maintaining the house in South Carolina). The return move sort of scuttled my summer plans. But as we settled in, I began to feel more and more confident in each class I took.
It has been three years and now I will graduate with a Master of Business Administration. Once again, I have to be honest; a few weeks ago, as I was walking through Fred Meyer, it hit me – I was going to graduate with a master’s degree; a dream I thought had died in 1994 was going to happen. I was very emotional for the rest of that night. (This was about a month ago when I started to realize I was almost done.)
I want to thank all of my family and friends. Though you may not have called me or texted me, I know that every single one of you supported this dream. Quietly. I felt the love of friends and family each time I nervously took a test.
When I was a child, my mom once told me that she believed I could do “anything I really wanted.” Now, I know that this is something all parents say, but there was something in her voice that made me truly believe it; everything I did, I wanted to be the best and believed I could be the best; I pushed myself as hard as possible. Thank you, Mom, for believing even when I was just a little five-year-old kid running around like a little crazy man.
To my brothers Ed and Craig; it was our discussions in 2017 that reminded me how much I loved and enjoyed learning. Sure, I had already been reading some pretty good philosophy and economics books, but those conversations awakened me to a new future, and I am eternally grateful for those times.
I also want to thank my friend and brother Chris Yorges. Twenty-eight years ago, you came to my graduation from Oregon. As we talked, you told me that you believed I could have done what I did at Oregon at an Ivy League school. You have always believed in me even when I did not believe in myself. Thank you for your love and friendship.
Finally, I want to thank my wife; her patience during times when I had to study and could not just go have fun or forget things is the only reason I am here. Without her, I am not sure I could have done this. You are the love of my life, the woman of my dreams, and my soul. Your patience and love are more than any man deserves.
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