Welcome to the first blog of the 2008-09 school year covering the Park University Pirates. Last year, if you remember, The Pirate Post was a PDF newsletter, which later turned into team-by-team updates on all 15 Park athletic programs. Don’t worry…those PDF’s aren’t going anywhere, and the weekly updates on each sport are going to stick around as well. However, as a Sports Information staff we had to find a better way to keep you in the loop with some informal communication. After a while, all those news releases begin to run together. Here, you’ll find all the news that maybe didn’t need a news release, and some of it that did. You’ll also hear from student-athletes, coaches, administrators and alumni of Park athletics.

As noted, the Sports Information staff will do the bulk of the writing on the blog, and speaking of the SID’s office, a couple of changes will be seen this year. One of which that has already happened and another that happens next week. As many of you know, Brooke Orcutt, who was our Assistant SID covering soccer, track & field, women’s basketball and softball has moved on to be the Assistant Sports Information Director at UMKC. We wish Brooke the best, and we know that UMKC has a rising star on its hands. Monday, Brooke’s replacement – Tyler Price – will join the Pirate staff as Assistant SID, coming from the NAIA national office where he served as the Media Services Intern over the summer. Tyler is already a seasoned promoter, coming to us also from KansasState, where for three years as a student he handled all the publicity for the women’s equestrian program. This is a young man with big things on his horizon, and we're more than excited to see him coming to our campus.

There’s also a new Pirate Club board in place, and they will each have an opportunity to address the Pirate fan-base through this very blog in the coming months. We’re very excited about this year's board. Again, big things on the horizon for this group. As always, if you’re reading this and aren’t a Pirate Club member, get ahold of Roland Shelton in the University Advancement office at (816) 584-6844, or, if you prefer e-mail, send him a note at roland.shelton@park.edu.

A near record number of student-athletes walked across the graduation stage in May, and many have already gone on to begin what will be outstanding careers in a wide-variety of professions. One such student-athlete, Jill Prather, has already made her way up the ranks in the front office with the Kansas City Wizards, moving from an intern role into a full-time position in the Experience Development division. Way to go Jill!

Jill’s brother, Bo, also had great news last week, as he became the second Pirate of the summer to sign a professional baseball contract. Bo is currently pitching for the Southern Illinois Miners in the Frontier League, while Chris Luera is still with the Yuma Scorpions in the Golden Baseball League. Park also had two players in men’s volleyball get an opportunity with professional teams. More to come on those still-developing stories, as well as some possibly big news on a former Pirate basketball stand-out. Stay tuned for more.

We’re not exactly sure if there will be an exact time-slot for this blog each week, or just when great news hits us. We are guessing it will be the latter, so be ready for the “a new blog has been posted” e-mail to come toward your inbox. If you’re not on the e-mailing list, please do send an email to Stephen.Wilson@park.edu. Until next time, Go Pirates!

Steve Wilson
Sports Information Director