July 2, 2015
By Jerome Boettcher | Subscribe to Commodore Nation
When Elizabeth Wright talks to Vanderbilt student-athletes who are pursuing careers in professional sportsâ€â€Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBAâ€â€she can preach and emphasize and stress the importance of finishing their degree or graduating early until she is red in the face.
But Vanderbilt’s Director of Academic Support knows sometimes it takes means more to current Commodores to hear it from someone who has walked in their shoes.
So when NFL standout wide receiver and former Commodore Earl Bennett stops by the McGugin Center as he finished up his degree 10 years after he arrived at Vanderbilt, his words carry weight.
“One of the nicest things about having the (professional) guys come back is that they are really good role models for the students who are currently here,” Wright said. “They tell you to stay in, because it is really hard to come back.”
But Bennett is one of those former Commodores who understands the value of education and has returned after all these years to finish his degree. Even with raising two kids and relocating back to Nashville, while still trying to play professional football, Bennett finished all the requirements for his undergraduate degree in June  a huge personal accomplishment for the former NFL star.
He is not alone as, starting with the spring of 2013, a total of 19 former Commodores have either received their degrees or are on track to graduate later this summer.
“No matter what you’re doing, whether you’re an NFL star or not, you can’t say you’re a college graduate until you get your diploma,” academic counselor Christy Hogan said. “It weighs a lot.”
The academic success stories inside Vanderbilt athletics aren’t just limited to those who are returning to campus. The Stratton Foster Academic Support Center also boasts many current student-athletes who will be heading to graduate school this fall. Or, in some cases, they’ve graduated in three years and are in grad school at Vanderbilt while playing out their final year of eligibility.
Shelby Moats of the men’s basketball team and Andrew East, for example, will graduate this spring with two degrees. Moats took advantage of a redshirt year and will receive his masters’ in finance at the Owen Graduate School of Management. East will have an undergraduate degree in civil engineering along with Master of Business Administration, also from Owen, by the time he leaves.
“Our student-athletes are very goal-oriented,” Hogan said. “What we do is try to help them reach their goal.”
Coming back
When Bobby Reynolds retired from tennis last July at the age of 32, he didn’t take long to head back to class. In August, he returned to Vanderbilt for his final year of classes. Every week last semester, he drove up from his home in Marietta, Ga., for a Monday night class. He then stayed in Nashville through Thursday, taking a total of six classes a week.
This semester he’s finishing up his degree in Human Organization and Development by fulfilling an internship requirement in Atlanta. He’ll turn in his last two assignments in late April and receive his degree in May.
“I always promised myself that if I left school with one year to go, I would go back and finish at Vanderbilt,” Reynolds said. “You don’t put in three hard years and not get the degree at the end. It was a major goal, even though I didn’t make it known to everybody else. That was always kind of in the back of my mind.”
Three former football players received their diplomas last May, including former cornerback Trey Wilson (2009-12). Fred Baker, who also played basketball, arrived at Vanderbilt in 1994. More than 20 years later, he received his degree. Doyle Crosby, who enrolled as a freshman in 1997, also graduated last spring. In addition, former fullback Ryan van Rensburg completed his degree last fall.
“They felt like when they were out in the working world, they could do so much more with a college degree,” Wright said of Baker and Crosby returning all these years later.
Former defensive back teammates Casey Heyward and Sean Richardson, currently playing in the NFL, graduated a year after declaring for the draft in 2012. Former SEC Freshman of the Year Warren Norman was forced to end his football career prematurely because of injuries. But he made sure to finish his education and graduated in December 2013.
Every year the MLB Draft is filled with Commodores who leave a year early. Many of them return in the offseason to take classes and get closer to wrapping up their undergraduate studies. Former pitcher Corey Williams graduated last summer. The 2013 SEC Player of the Year Tony Kemp, a native of Franklin, graduated in December. Fan favorites Kevin Ziomek, Jason Esposito, Sam Selman, Navery Moore, Connor Harrell and Anthony Gomez all graduated in the last two years.
The NCAA hands out degree completion awards to student-athletes who need less than 30 credit hours to graduate, honoring the same scholarships they received when they first started college.
When Reynolds left he had 36 hours remaining before he could graduate. Three years ago, he took three classes online at Kennesaw State University in order to drop under 30 hours and become eligible for the NCAA’s degree completion program.
After 11 years of traveling the country and the world, Reynolds is ready to settle in with his wife, former Vanderbilt track All-American, Josie Hahn, and two young childrenâ€â€Parker, who just turned 2, and newborn Mason.
“I always promised myself that the reason I chose Vanderbilt was because of the education,” said Reynolds, who is currently teaching lessons at a tennis academy in Atlanta. “Whatever came later was just a bonus. That name on that diploma is so valuable. It was a major, major goal I wanted to do for myself. But obviously for my kids, I want to make it known to them that, yeah, I was successful at a sport, but it still doesn’t take away from the education. Sports are only going to last so long.”
‘Striving to do more’
Growing up in Maryville, Patton Robinette dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot or firemanâ€â€exciting, adventurous jobs that usually capture the attention of young kids. Then in the sixth grade, his grandfather died from Parkinson’s disease.
“That really had a profound effect on me,” Robinette said. “I saw the effect doctors not only had on him, and improving his quality of life as he neared his passing, but also the effect it had on my family, the great help they were in a tough situation. That really spoke to me, even at that age. From there on, I kind of knew it was something I really wanted to do. I made sure I worked really hard in high school and when I got here to work toward that goal in the hopes of eventually being able to have that same effect on people’s lives.”
Robinette, who made headlines in March for ending his football career early, will be starting at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in August. He’ll be joined by former football teammate Alex Hysong and cross country runner John Ewing. Former football player John Stokes is finishing up his last year of medical school.
Matthew Cleveland, also a member of the cross country team, graduates this May and then heads to medical school at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Taylor Hudson (football) hopes to get accepted to medical school in 2016, but will spend next year with a full-time job in the neuroscience department. He’ll do research with Parkinson’s patients and deep brain stimulation. Lauren Hart and Shannon Morrish begin their senior seasons next year on the soccer field. At the same time, they’ll be starting at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in the Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner Programs.
Liz Anderson (cross country/track) and Katie Rose Higgins (golf) were enrolled at Peabody College in the Leadership and Organizational Performance program as they finished their last year of athletic eligibility. Rebecca Chandler (cross country) is completing her Master in Special Education from Peabody and plans to apply for law school.
Josh Henderson is returning to the men’s basketball team after he was a granted a sixth year by the NCAA due to a medical hardship. With the extra time, he’ll complete his master’s degree. Davis Dudchock transferred from Stanford last year to attend grad school and play his last year of football at Vanderbilt. He is currently working with the football staff and on track to receive his Master of Education in Leadership and Organizational Performance next spring.
Goalkeeper Maddie Kratz of the lacrosse team was accepted into a one-year post-baccalaureate program at the University of Virginia that begins later this summer. She’ll then either enroll in Physician Assistant (PA) school or medical school.
As a goalkeeper, it is not surprising Kratz wants to continue working with her hands. The Wilton, Conn., native grew up with piano lessons and arts and crafts projects. So she knew a desk job wouldn’t be for her, and with her love of science and medicine, surgery became a natural career choice. In March, she stood in and observed as her teammate, Kelly Chandler, underwent knee surgery. This was nothing knew for Kratz, who has spent the last couple summers back home in Connecticut shadowing surgeons.
“It has pretty much always been the plan since I was a sophomore in high school,” she said. “I’ve always loved medicine. I’m just not sure which route I want to go. PA is a great career for women in the future, especially. The end goal is to be in the presence of surgery in general. Whether I’m a doctor or PA, surgery is pretty much the way I want to go.”
She won’t be the only Commodore achieving a lifelong goalâ€â€whether that’s one that got placed on hold or one that comes after one chapter of their life comes to an end.
“For student-athletes, I think there is always a competitive edge,” Kratz said. “We are always striving to do more. Maybe we didn’t take advantage of one aspect of undergraduate college, and we want to explore it more with being able to devote all our attention to it. So it doesn’t surprise me at all that people are ready to go back to school and onto higher education.”
