If you haven’t seen this baseball player running around campus, you’ve probably seen this Flames catcher on the field from time to time! Alex Jurich is a 22-year-old senior, majoring in finance. This Minneapolis native is the oldest of 4 kids, Molly, Jack, Mary. Molly is a Sophomore at Marquette, Jack is going to Nebraska next year and his littlest sister Mary will be going into her first year of high school. Alex jokingly said, “Campus celebrity? I’m flattered, I wouldn’t exactly say that though since half the school doesn’t know we have a baseball team in the first place.”
HC (Her Campus): What piqued your interest in sports, or baseball specifically? Did you play as a child or in high school?
AJ (Alex Jurich): When I was little it was just a way to get my energy out. I was always all over the place. Plus I loved playing and beating my friends, I’ve always been competitive. I loved Chicago sports, especially baseball and the Cubs (a big part of that was attributed to my grandpa) my early coaches tried to put me in the outfield, but I would get too bored and play with the grass or look at all the other things going on around me. So they put me behind the plate at catcher because I was forced to pay attention every pitch back there and lone behold! It stuck.
HC: Did you always know you were going to play baseball at UIC?
AJ: My sophomore year in high school one of my varsity coaches kind of put the idea of college ball into my head. At the time I didn’t see myself as really good enough, but that’s the year I really started to develop physically and fill out and get better on the field and could see the gap that I had started to create with some other players. I really pursued it hard, knowing that I wanted to end up playing college baseball somewhere at a Division 1 level and UIC called me early in my senior year so I came for a visit and signed 2 weeks later. Chicago is like my second home, so it was an easy and great fit.
HC: What is your favorite part of being on the UIC baseball team and what is your least favorite part?
AJ: My favorite part is definitely the group of guys I’m surrounded with on a daily basis. Bunch of absolute characters that we have on this team. We all get along extremely well. There’s very few moments where someone isn’t making me laugh in the clubhouse or on the field. We all look out for each other, no matter what. Our team top to bottom has a special chemistry this year, it’s been a lot of fun. And without a doubt my least favorite is the 2 month, 5 day a week, 5am wake up calls for “boot camp” in the fall. A marine drill sargent yelling at you while you’re getting drilled in the face with a sprinkler wasn’t exactly what I thought I was getting myself into with playing ‘baseball’ in college! Turns out to be worth it though.
HC: Can you describe one of your favorite games or event that has stuck with you throughout your baseball career?
AJ: Oh man, so many. It’s hard to remember all the specifics! On a team level it had to be beating the 24th ranked team in the nation the Texas A&M Aggies on Friday night for the season opener at their new stadium in front of like 8,000 people. We got that last out and the life was just sucked out of the stadium it was an incredible feeling, talk about an adrenaline rush. We all went back through that tunnel yelling and jacked up it was pretty awesome sharing that with the guys you work your butt off with every day.
On a personal level, it came this year. My uncle who I was very close to passed away within the past year and he would always tell me “hit a couple home runs for me”. On his birthday I hit one of the farthest home runs of my life and got the ball after the game and marked the date and had the opportunity to send it to my aunt back in Minnesota. It was really special for me, I still wear his “Captain Ron Strength.Love.Hope” bracelet every day. He is definitely watching out for me, I have no doubt.
HC: Do you have any advice for any athletes out there?
AJ: Enjoy it. It’s so cliché, you hear it from everyone, but it flies by. I learned (not quickly unfortunately, I can tend to be a bit of a head case) the quicker you can get out of your head the better. It’s a game, it’s fun! That’s why you’re doing it to begin with. Have fun with it or go find something you enjoy doing more.
HC: Do you have any role models or anyone who inspires you? If so, who?
AJ: Coming out of the UIC baseball program it’s definitely Curtis Granderson. Having opportunities to meet and pick his brain and just witness how humble he is with all of his successes speaks monuments to me. Just by spending a little time in the batting cages with him over my career I can tell he’s never been mean to or looked down on anyone in his life. All around class act. I’ve been lucky enough to be in this program during all his progress made on Curtis Granderson stadium and the opening of it this year and have had the chance to listen to him speak a lot of times. He always brings up his parents and how they raised him, which is one of the reasons I like to bring up mine. They are my role models. They’ve given me everything I could ever need to succeed in life and have shown me how to live it without taking away my ability to make mistakes and learn from them. The more I’m out on my own in the world the more I see how lucky I am to be raised the way I was. They truly did make me into who I am today, they have my back no matter what but are never afraid to tell me when they disagree with a decision I make. Even so, they support me and try to help me get through it.
HC: Summarize a day in the life of you. Is it difficult managing your schedule?
AJ: I would argue our “normal days” are a lot more eventful than most regular college students. But, it usually changes depending if we’re in season or not. Let’s see, wake up around 515 for 6 am lift. Lift until 7, go get some extra hitting or defense work in. Go to breakfast. Go to class. Go to lunch. Go back to class. Then practice or a game in the afternoon, and then you gotta squeeze your homework in at night, so it can be a lot. It was really hard my first year. I’ve gotten used to the busyness, I like to stay busy. But if you get behind on your work, especially in season it gets tough because you miss so much class because of games and being on the road and stuff will start to pile up. It’s something people don’t always see. A lot think, “oh there’s the kid on the baseball team showing up whenever he wants” and I can see how that can come off. But we also need to somehow figure out how to keep up with the days we missed, get the notes, and it’s an absolute nightmare trying to coordinate with a group if you have a group project in season. (I’ve felt bad for some of my group members in the past!) also, having to talk to the teachers to reschedule tests or quizzes, and it’s hard to miss that much class and still succeed in it. Especially if the teacher isn’t that flexible. But in my experience here, they have been great with me. And most guys on our team really do excel in the classroom because they know how to work hard.
HC: Do you have any personal and/or professional goals to accomplish before you graduate?
AJ: I want to win a championship in 2014. That has been my goal since I came into UIC and this program has a long history of that. As a senior leader this year that has been the one thing I’ve been focused on. Personally, I just want to enjoy my remaining time playing this game. I would love to get drafted and go onto the next level playing ball and be on the Horizon League 1st team, sure. But all those things are so far out of my control that they are really not worth putting too much thought into. I use it as something that drives me to try and play well more than anything. Can’t get caught up in things out of your control.
HC: Are you involved in any other activities at UIC or outside of UIC? If not, what are some things you like to do in your spare time?
AJ: Not really, school and baseball kind of eat up most of my free time. I do have an internship right now with Northwestern Mutual that I’m excited about and spend a little time downtown in that office. Mostly I just like to give myself some down time and play NHL with the guys or watch the Hawks and Cubs games.
HC: Where do you see yourself in ten years?
AJ: That’s a great question. Maybe we can do a follow up then? Succeeding at something! Being an athlete has taught me hard work and I think in anything it’ll get you a long way. And I’m good at that. I would ideally love to stay in or around the city, but who knows. I’m open to any and all opportunities that might get thrown my way
HC: If you could be best friends with any celebrity, who would it be and why?
AJ: Hands down Rob Dyrdek. You can tell that guy is just always genuinely happy. He loves to make people laugh and feel good and give back. He is always laughing or doing something crazy, I don’t think I could stop laughing for a second if I was with that guy. He kind of just does whatever he wants, like he’ll think of an idea that’s just so insane and then just go for it. That’s awesome. I wish I could do that! I think he’d be a great best friend to have. There would truly never be a dull moment.