Beaver Tales

Arica Nassar has had quite the athletic career, balancing basketball & volleyball for a year at OSU before sticking with volleyball and playing in every match from 2011-2014. She concluded her collegiate career with the volleyball program's most successful season in history as the team won its first two NCAA Tournament matches ever. After a pro volleyball career in Europe, Arica got into coaching and recently got a promotion on the OSU staff as the new assistant coach.

I talked with Arica about her volleyball career, transitioning into coaching, and her family backstory of her father moving from Accra, Ghana to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. But, one of the first things we talked about her experience of living in places like Oregon, Finland, and Sweden -- places where, as she put it, more people look like me than like her. It was poignant to hear her perspective and why she decided to come back to Corvallis at least somewhat long-term.

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If you enjoy this podcast, I'd love for you to learn about some amazing nonprofits that deserve a lot of help and recognition. One of those is Convoy of Hope, which provides resources and empowerment to people all across this country & abroad. They are online at:

https://www.convoyofhope.org/

Jabral Johnson was Oregon State's second-leading tackler the last season the Beavers made a bowl game: 2013. After starting at linebacker in 2013 and 2014, Jabral graduated and went on to become a police officer in Portland.

We talk about some ups and downs at Oregon State, his experience being a cop (especially the last few weeks) as well as his presence as an African-American officer in a predominately caucasian field.

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Today's featured non-profit is Children's Garden, which helps kids in need in the Philippines. They're a small organization, so any donations go a long way. Check them out online at childrensgarden.ph

Pat Casey's 900th win was also his third national championship. He's a legend at Oregon State, so when I chatted with Pat, I wanted to go as deep as possible into his coaching philosophy, where he found his inspiration, and what values he finds most important. 

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In lieu of advertisers on this podcast, I feature some great nonprofits. I know the two house parents/leaders of Children's Garden, a home for street kids in the Philippines. They do amazing work. You can learn more and donate at http://childrensgarden.ph/ 

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I'll talk to Pat again soon about more specific memories of the 2018 NCAA Championship team, especially for the audio documentary that's I'm producing. That project will be released hopefully within a few months. If you're a Beaver fan, a baseball fan, a podcast documentary fan or are a human being, you'll enjoy that when it comes out!

Bill Rowe won an NCAA Championship on the 2006 Beaver Baseball team and was an undergraduate assistant coach in 2018 when Oregon State claimed another national title. He's now the head coach of the Medford Rogues, a collegiate summer league squad, and he has a compelling motivation for what attributes he wants to instill in his players.

Rowe spent 10 years in the film industry, most of it working on the set of the Portland-based NBC show "Grimm," and he has some fun memories of preparing the actors in the Twilight movies how to act out a baseball scene. We also talk about his transition back to coaching at Oregon State and some key moments in the College World Series in 2018 that paralleled 2006 when he scored the game-winning run in OSU's first NCAA Title in program history.

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The featured charity for most baseball episodes is Kingdom Home, which aims to end child sex slavery in Uganda. To see how former OSU baseball player Matt Boyd is doing that, check out https://kingdomhome.org/

Rachi Wortham was on the Oregon State men's basketball staff for the first two seasons of the Wayne Tinkle era. Among other things, Rachi used his role as the Director of Player Personnel to help student-athletes in their academic pursuits and to think about life beyond basketball. His backstory and philosophy on how to raise young men of character is something we could all use a dose of right now. 

Thanks for listening and I hope you can support this episode's featured nonprofit, Convoy of Hope: https://www.convoyofhope.org/

Pat Bailey has been an assistant coach at Oregon State since the 2008 baseball season, winning the national championship in 2018 and serving as interim head coach for the 2019 season.

Coach Bailey also won a D-III NCAA Championship in 2004 as George Fox's head coach while earning National Coach of the Year. Bailey earned the "Ethics in Coaching Award" from the American Baseball Coaches' Association in 2012, and he joins the Beaver Tales Podcast for an open conversation on coaching philosophy, life philosophy, and race.

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For an opportunity to donate, visit Food for the Hungry: https://www.fh.org/

Or to split a donation across 40 bail funds around the USA:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd

Roberto Nelson finished his career as the 4th leading scorer in Oregon State history with 1,745 points, and has since played professionally in the NBA Summer League and overseas in Italy, France, Mexico and New Zealand. 

I talked with Roberto partly about his sports career but also about more important things- what should our perspective be on racial tensions in America? What type of conversations do we need to be having? And how has his international travel impacted his point of view?

We start the conversation with how his Oregon State career started, being recruited by Craig Robinson and more, but we finish with the topic of racial inequality and media representation.

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One option to donate: split your contribution between 40 bail funds all around the country:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd

Katelyn Driscoll is another prime example of a student-athlete whose career didn't go as expected. Some last-minute drama caused Katelyn to head to Oregon State in 2012 instead of the University of Colorado. A knee injury and the first of four ACL surgeries prevented her from playing for nearly two years. Her return was rewarding, though: she was healthy in time for the 2014 season and OSU's first two NCAA Tournament victories in program history.

Katelyn similarly has seen her professional career take some unexpected turns. She began playing professional volleyball in the Philippines but another ACL injury cut her career short. She now lives in Melbourne, Australia and joins the Beaver Tales Podcast to reflect on what she's learned since arriving at OSU eight years ago!

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If possible, share this podcast with a friend and more importantly, check out this episode's featured charity: childrensgarden.ph!

Tyler Malone made the 2018 College World Series All-Tournament team while tying a CWS record with three home runs during OSU's road to the National Championship. He's already had unique experiences in professional baseball in the San Diego Padres organization, switching positions from outfielder to catcher.

Tyler speaks about what made his freshman year in 2017 difficult off the field and what helped him grow as a player and as a person the last three years. Plus, some great memories from Omaha in 2018 during the CWS!

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Thanks for listening to the Beaver Tales podcast, sharing it with a friend, and checking out https://kingdomhome.org/, a charity organized by former OSU pitcher Matt Boyd! 

Hunter Jarmon played both football and baseball his freshman year at OSU. He wanted to balance both but had to drop baseball after one season. Over the next three years of football he totaled 555 yards and 3 TDs and was primed for an expanded role as a wide receiver in his final year.

After spring football in 2017, however, he switched sports again. Hunter signed a professional baseball contract with the San Diego Padres. So how did a guy who hadn't thrown a baseball in three years suddenly jump to the pros? The story involves the Don Mattingly family and a phone call Hunter Jarmon never expected to get.

If you enjoy hearing Hunter's story, share it with a friend!