It has been 28 years since I graduated from the University of Oregon. Today I took my last test to complete my Masters’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 as 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. I remarried 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; 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.