Beaver Tales

Matt Boyd nearly left OSU after 2012. The left-handed pitcher from Mercer Island, Washington was at a crossroads but ultimately chose to return for his senior year and finally earned a slot in the starting rotation for a College World Series squad in 2013. Boyd parlayed his growth that year into a great pro career, having started 130 games in the big leagues already and entering the 2021 season as the ace pitcher on the Detroit Tigers' staff.

Matt and his wife Ashley established Kingdom Home in 2018- to find out how you can help them end child sex slavery in Uganda, click here: https://kingdomhome.org/

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If you follow Beaver baseball, check out the podcast documentary series coming out this year, "Dynasty in the Woods" --> https://the-beaver-tales-podcast-documentaries.mailchimpsites.com/ 

Abby Windell was the best high school volleyball player in the state of Oregon in 2002 and played middle blocker for Oregon State from 2003-2006. Now Abby Swancutt (after marrying Beaver football player Bill Swancutt), Abby has spent the last decade at Nike, currently as a Senior Design Director in women's performance apparel. Abby & Bill live in Salem and have three kids.

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Convoy of Hope does great work with crisis relief, women's empowerment & much more: https://www.convoyofhope.org/

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Learn more about a Beaver baseball documentary I'm producing: https://the-beaver-tales-podcast-documentaries.mailchimpsites.com/  

Mike Hass went from a walk-on scout-teamer to Biletnikoff Award Winner, as the Jesuit High School product became the best wide receiver in college football. After a 4-year pro football career, he worked for Nike for almost nine years, got married, had two kids, and recently started working in transportation engineering with Pacific GeoSource in Tualatin. We talked about his time at OSU, his life now and stories about how he nearly didn't come to OSU at all and when he did, he career was still on thin ice after two seasons.

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Food for the Hungry helps empower people to enriched lives, learn more here: https://www.fh.org/ 

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Find out more about the Beaver Tales Documentary Series, the podcast on Beaver Baseball featuring interviews with more than 50 people connected to the program: https://the-beaver-tales-podcast-documentaries.mailchimpsites.com/ 

Josh LaGrone joined the Oregon State football team in 2009 and got some special teams experience before tearing his ACL a second time, retiring once, coming back, then retiring again. Since then, Josh has held jobs in law enforcement, personal training, football coaching and he's now reached his dream of being a gym owner- where he's also training to squat 500 pounds. He lives in Reno, Nevada with his wife, Whitney, and three kids.

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Children's Garden is a great organization in the Philippines; if you'd like to donate, learn more here: https://childrensgarden.ph/ 

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The Beaver Baseball Documentary is coming up soon, called "Dynasty in the Woods." Learn more about this podcast series I'm producing: https://the-beaver-tales-podcast-documentaries.mailchimpsites.com/ 

Steve Pickering attended Oregon State in the late 70s and got his first volleyball coaching job with help from legendary OSU basketball coach Ralph Miller. At various points in Pickering's career he was an assistant coach at OSU, the head coach at University of Portland and an assistant at Tennessee & Ohio State. For the last 29 years, Steve Pickering has been the owner of All-American Volleyball Camps, helping high schoolers around the country expand their volleyball skillset.

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Learn more about a great local nonprofit helping families in Corvallis & the surrounding area: http://www.oldmillcenter.org/ 

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I've finished the first episode of "Dynasty in the Woods," the forthcoming podcast documentary on the 2018 Beaver baseball team. When that episode and the rest of the series is released, be sure to check it out on this podcast channel! Learn more here: https://the-beaver-tales-podcast-documentaries.mailchimpsites.com/  

The 6'10 forward Olaf Schaftenaar played for Oregon State from 2012-2016, spanning the Craig Robinson and Wayne Tinkle eras and finishing with an NCAA Tournament appearance. Originally from the Netherlands, Olaf and his brother Roeland (who also played at OSU) now play in the same league in Spain. Olaf plays for Basquet Girona, a team founded by the NBA's Marc Gasol.

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Old Mill Center is a great nonprofit locally that helps kids and families through a variety of resources: http://www.oldmillcenter.org/ 

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I'm just a couple months away from finishing the Beaver baseball podcast series on the 2018 national championship team. Learn more here! https://the-beaver-tales-podcast-documentaries.mailchimpsites.com/ 

Mary Claire Brenner started 93 games for the OSU softball team, only to try her hand at a second sport in her 5th year at OSU. Brenner became the first thrower on the Oregon State track & field team in 25 years, competing in javelin, shot-put and discus in 2013. She later became a marine mammal trainer and now is a flight attendant with Hawaiian Airlines.

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For more on Convoy of Hope, a great nonprofit you can donate to: https://www.convoyofhope.org/

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Give me feedback or suggest a guest, here's my email: [email protected] 

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A podcast documentary on Beaver baseball I'm producing will come out in a couple months! Find out more here: https://the-beaver-tales-podcast-documentaries.mailchimpsites.com/ 

Matt LaGrone went from being a basketball player at the University of Nevada to a football player at Oregon State. He became a starting defensive end in 2009 and then abruptly left the team after playing just one season. Although it was a rough transition, Matt is in a much different place now: he's married with three kids, he's a pastor, a National Guard recruiter, a snake breeder, owns a car detailing business, and he's nearly done with that pesky Bachelor's degree.

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Lamplight Creatives is a full-service creative agency offering total solutions for marketing, branding, and promotional needs. Check out this great local business!

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Find Children's Garden at https://childrensgarden.ph/ and learn about this great nonprofit in the Philippines!

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Get updates on the Beaver Baseball podcast documentary I'm producing here! https://the-beaver-tales-podcast-documentaries.mailchimpsites.com/ 

David Chin played defensive back for Oregon State in the 1970s, but his focus was always beyond sports. The walk-on studied Chemical Engineering & Biochemistry/Biophysics at OSU and now coaches business leaders through his company, BusinessCOACH of Oregon.

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For more on Oregon Marketing Group, click here for business promotion solutions, content creation, website design & more!

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The Beaver Tales Documentary Series is coming out in a couple months, learn more here! https://the-beaver-tales-podcast-documentaries.mailchimpsites.com/

(this project is on the 2018 Beaver Baseball team and the history of OSU baseball)

Danae Phillips Stanfield specialized in vault and uneven bars in her late-90s Oregon State gymnastics career. She scored a perfect 10 on bars in 1999, a feat only five OSU gymnasts have ever achieved in that event. Danae now teaches elementary school P.E. in Albany and we had a thoughtful & fun conversation about wanting a legacy transcending athletics.

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Food for the Hungry is an amazing nonprofit that can use your help, check them out here! https://www.fh.org/

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The Beaver Tales Documentary Series comes out this year! Learn more about this project I'm producing: https://the-beaver-tales-podcast-documentaries.mailchimpsites.com/