Actuaries and Athletics

[MCA]

In the spirit of my former team winning the NCAA Hockey Championship, I wanted to see if there are other former D-1 athletes among the actuarial ranks. We have heard plenty from the marching band, Star Trek watching, Harry Potter reading masses. Is it really that rare to excel at mathematics and also athletics.

[PensionAggie]

I played intramural basketball and we won a couple of games one year. I still remember that sweet taste of victory.

After all of the games, we would practice our ruin theory and bayes theorem as we cooled down. Those were the days...prespiration and probability...

FYI - I know an actuary who can bench press 400lbs.

[sb_jim]

I ran cross-country and track at Iowa for my first two undergraduate years there. My major was not math related at the time and I quit running the 90+ miles a week to have a social life. I wasn't Big 10 calibre anyway (neither was the rest of the team for the most part). The travel was fun to exotic locations like West Lafayette, Evanston, and Minneapolis.

Best memories were running against big name guys like Craig Virgin and getting beat soundly.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Yes, it's rare. Too much abstract thinking leads to real-world injuries, and it's hard to turn off the thinking.

[Don Quijote]

I don´t expect many of us were atheletes in the popular sense (football, basketball, baseball), but in the less known sports it wouldn´t surprise me. In my case, captain of the college fencing team. I got beat by one of the US olympic team fencers in under 15 seconds. And I simply ran backwards from the last touch to boost my total time.

[wally world]

I interviewed a guy once who played golf at Penn State. He played against the likes of Tiger Woods, et al. Don't know if he's still an actuary or not, though.

[quentin cassidy]

A few years ago, there was a former D-1 football player (LaFayette College) who worked for about a year as a actuarial student. No longer an actuary.

I ran D-3 XC and track all 4 years of college, and know of at least 5 other actuaries who did the same, 2 or 3 of them were of D-1 caliber.

The best runner I ever ran 'against' (which isn't really a fair term, since he was so much better than everyone else) in D-3 was probably Kevin Collins, who has been ranked in the Top 10 nationally in the marathon the past 2 years.

[General Kenobi (ret.)]

Am I noticing a trend towards individual or quasi-individual sports, as opposed to team sports?

[MCA]

That's funny Wally, I think I know who you are talking about, and yes, he still is an actuary.

[Anonymous]

I know there's a certain ESPN play-by-play commentator ...

[WWSituation]

Not actuarial, but Jay Fiedler was an engineering student at Dartmouth (his abstract thinking didn't deter him from playing the most dangerous position in team sports)

[Franchise]

I don't mean to imply that this is on par with Division I basketball or anything ... I just think it's cool.

I went to a small college, and I was on the bowling team. Not hard to do, so believe me, I'm not patting myself on the back.

The cool thing is that college bowling isn't split up by division like most sports. As such, we bowled against all the big schools ... IU, Purdue, etc. We routinely got our butts whipped, but it was cool seeing some of the really good teams.

Of course, the best events had the national powerhouses like Wichita State or Nebraska. Now those guys were fun to watch. They were lighting the lanes up.

[Ultimate Anyone?]

Add me to the list of D-3 XC and track participants, although I was nowhere near D-1 caliber, and kinda shaky on the D-3 caliber, truth be told (although I had a lot of fun).

In grad school I was on the Ultimate team, and we made Nationals while I was there. We made it to the semi-finals, which was no small feat.

There are no divisions in Ultimate either and we're not sanctioned by the NCAA (hence the reason I had my full 5 years of eligibility in grad school). One of the powerhouses is Ultimate is Carleton, a small liberal arts college. Tough teams (Men and Women) year after year.

[Actuarybert]

I was also a XC and track runner in college (not D-1, though). I qualified for nationals all 4 years in XC, but I ended up skipping nationals my senior year, because it was the same day as my actuarial exam :x

[Ms. Re]

One former pitcher for the Braves -- Tony Brizzolara -- has worked as an actuary, although I don't think that he is "credentialed" by the SOA. To answer the original question, I presume that he played baseball in college. Below is his dossier:

************************************************** ********
Anthony J. Brizzolara is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Swerdlin & Company. He is also a principal of the firm.


Prior to becoming Chief Operating Officer, Tony's responsibilities included preparation of defined benefit pension plan valuations for plans with up to 2,000 participants, plan mergers and terminations, Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 87 and No. 106 (SFAS No. 87)(SFAS No. 106) pension cost reports, pension audits and actuarial cost studies.


Tony is currently responsible for management of the Actuarial Team and financial management for the firm. In addition, he continues to work closely with clients in relationship development and pension consulting.


Prior to joining Swerdlin & Company, Tony's actuarial experience included employment with Life of Virginia and American Agency Life Insurance Company.


Tony's professional career also included ten years of professional baseball (nine years in the Atlanta Braves organization of which three were in Atlanta (1979, 1983 and 1984).


Tony received his BBA degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Texas.

[Grits N Gravy]

An FSA I used to work with was on the Drake basketball team the year they made it to the final 4 (1969).

[sb_jim]

So that's what became of Dolph.

(if you grew up in central Iowa in the 70's Dolph Pullium (sp?) was a local TV personality and often a clown after his Drake basketball glory days)

[Tri4Ben]

I played triathlon in college. Our coach kept rying to tell us that it was a team sport, but the people on my team just wanted to beat eachother. To the best of my knowledge, it is not an intercollegiate sport at any school, allthough many top schools take it very seriously and recruit swimmers and runners. We trained just as much as the division 1 athletes at my school, but got no respect. Gauchos Baby!

[chucky almindinger jr.]

i played 3 years as starting point guard for suny binghamton. also played intramural foootball, team name THE ACTUARIES

[LLSC]

I enjoy indoor rowing, and have met several other actuaries at local competitions.

[coco]

I was the captain and striker of the intramural soccer team that won the school's championship. :)

[IAm@Work.com]

A few years ago, there was a former D-1 football player (LaFayette College) who worked for about a year as a actuarial student. No longer an actuary.
I lettered in basketball at Lafayette. (The Easton, PA one without any odd capitals.)

Catch is that I did it from behind a camera with the title of "manager".

[Elston Gunn]

I played for the Men's Volleyball Club team in college. We were in the A10 in the major sports but didn't have an 'official' men's team. We played other area schools. Played against some guys who were on their countries national teams (even stuffed a member of the Brazilian National team).

Also, played against a couple of future big league pitchers in high school (one is a prior NL All Star and both have World Series rings).

[Abducens]

In the spirit of my former team winning the NCAA Hockey Championship, I wanted to see if there are other former D-1 athletes among the actuarial ranks. We have heard plenty from the marching band, Star Trek watching, Harry Potter reading masses. Is it really that rare to excel at mathematics and also athletics.

Wow, someone's in a real prick mood today. Congrats on some team doing what you never could.

[Elston Gunn]

In the spirit of my former team winning the NCAA Hockey Championship, I wanted to see if there are other former D-1 athletes among the actuarial ranks. We have heard plenty from the marching band, Star Trek watching, Harry Potter reading masses. Is it really that rare to excel at mathematics and also athletics.

Wow, someone's in a real prick mood today. Congrats on some team doing what you never could.

That response is probably a bit much, no?

[Abducens]

Maybe. It's just worth pointing out that it sounds like the Star Trek-Harry Potter crowd has won just as many hockey championships as our friend here.

[Drewby]

...We made it to the semi-finals, which was no small feat...

I didn't realize one needed big feet to play Ultimate...
:P

[tommie frazier]

i ran track in college. scholarship, div I.

I was OK, not great. Faster than most of you, but this isn't exactly a track team chat room.

[O. Hannah]

I was good enough to wrestle D1 or D2 but wanted to concentrate on social life, studies etc.

[Sunny]

I'm pretty athletic, or used to be, myself, but never on the Olympics level no (although know quite a few Olympic athletes). But I did have a theory on how hard it is to keep both the brain and the body healthy and sharp. When one inevitably focuses on one only, one slides on the other. Although, smart people tend to be more well-rounded and want to keep up both.

Does that answer the original post or what!?! :D

[Han Solo]

Wow, someone's in a real prick mood today.
Well, at least he was when he started the thread a year and a half ago.

Used to work with a guy who ran D1 track, but the closest I come to D1 athletics personally are the bleachers.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

If one excels in Mathematics, there seems to be no need to excel in athletics. Dabble maybe.

[Abducens]

What if one excels at speaking Klingon?

[All Clear]

Just like Dogbert, er- Actuarybert (and Quentin), I ran XC (Div. 3) in College, as well as Indoor and Outdoor Track. I was also on the Volleyball team (D3), and while I did not make my schools' basketball team, when I played in High School I participated in a local tournament where my team played against one with Charles Jones, who later led the nation in Scoring at Long Island University (I think in 2001). Each member of my team wanted to guard him, and as I recall, he scored quite easily over all.....

[Wigmeister General]

I played intramural basketball and we won a couple of games one year. I still remember that sweet taste of victory.

After all of the games, we would practice our ruin theory and bayes theorem as we cooled down. Those were the days...prespiration and probability...

FYI - I know an actuary who can bench press 400lbs.

10 reps of 40lbs each, no doubt.

[Triweasel]

I played triathlon in college. Our coach kept rying to tell us that it was a team sport, but the people on my team just wanted to beat eachother. To the best of my knowledge, it is not an intercollegiate sport at any school, allthough many top schools take it very seriously and recruit swimmers and runners. We trained just as much as the division 1 athletes at my school, but got no respect. Gauchos Baby!

Hey another Gaucho out there! I used to know some of the tri team and rode with the cycling team a bit in the early '90s. When were you at UCSB?

[burton leon reynolds]

Played baseball in college, invited to tryout for the Reds, invited back for a second day, sent home at noon, but I knew I was gone at 10AM.

My boss-FSA, played baseball at Vanderbilt.

The #2 in my department-FSA, played basketball in college.

CEO of my company-ASA, played baseball in college.

[Sunny]

Played baseball in college, invited to tryout for the Reds, invited back for a second day, sent home at noon, but I knew I was gone at 10AM..

Whoa, that was cool.

[flash111]

Track and field captain at UWat. Over the 5 years I was on the team, there were at least 5 or 6 other actuarial students on the team who were quite talented.

[BallerActuary]

I went to UCSB also (class of 2003). I averaged 27.6 points per intramural game my last quarter there (yes I kept track) - that's not a D1 sport, but my claim to fame. Coaches of the men's basketball team also asked why I wasn't trying out (because of one stupid trainer). It would have been very difficult to balance academics and athletics and I am always impressed with people who do.
I know there is one NFL referee who works as an actuary. That isn't really a sport.. but close, I guess.
Now that I have started working, I have become a cubicle blob... immobile for days on end. If you don't pass an exam in three tries, my company will fire you. So, for the next seven or so years I will get an inadequate amount of exercise and probably have a heart attack by the age of 30. How sad for me. It just goes to show that like drinking and driving, exercising and exams don't safely mix.