After 21 years in MLB, LaTroy Hawkins graduates from college: ‘Dreams don’t come with a pitch clock’

Sports

add

As he readied himself for the big stage earlier this month, LaTroy Hawkins recognized a case of nerves overwhelming him, something he rarely experienced during a 21-year career in Major League Baseball.

Hawkins enjoyed the pressure of pitching in high-leverage spots for 11 teams, including nine seasons for his current employer, the Minnesota Twins. But the 52-year-old felt out of his comfort zone when he attended his graduation from Southern New Hampshire University on May 4 in front of friends and family, despite his daughter ensuring his cap and uniform looked the part.

“Yes,” he said with a laugh. “I was nervous.”

Wanting to carry out the wishes of his mother and grandmother but unsure if he’d finish, the longtime former player enrolled in community college courses for the 2020 fall semester.

Nearly five “non-stop” years of attending mostly online courses later, a curriculum that allowed him to continue as a part-time television analyst and special assistant to baseball operations for the Twins, as well as a pitching coach for Team USA, Hawkins graduated magna cum laude with a degree in sociology. He hopes the accomplishment serves as an inspiration for his nephews and daughter.

“Greatness doesn’t retire — it evolves,” Hawkins said about why he chose to pursue a degree at age 47. “Growth doesn’t have an expiration date because dreams don’t come with a pitch clock. And because it’s never too late to show the next generation what follow-through looks like.”

He didn’t need to go to college, Hawkins wanted to.

Though Indiana State University offered him a full-ride basketball scholarship, Hawkins instead pursued baseball when the Twins selected him with the 180th pick of the 1991 amateur draft and paid him a $28,500 signing bonus. At the time, he didn’t think he was ready for college and his family raised no objections to a career in baseball.

Less than four years later, Hawkins made his MLB debut for the Twins and embarked on a journey that resulted in him pitching the 10th-most games in MLB history (1,042) and reaching the postseason five times, including one World Series appearance with the Colorado Rockies in 2007.

There was never time for college.

“I was focused on baseball and baseball only,” Hawkins said. “I had no time to focus on anything else.”

Hawkins retired after the 2015 season and joined the Twins as a special assistant to baseball operations in 2016. He wanted to learn about the front office, everything from scouting to player development. He also jumped into the team’s television booth in an effort to find his post-playing career path.

But a few years later, Hawkins began to consider going to school. Baseball would always be his career, but attending college intrigued him.

He’d been inspired by former teammate Jacque Jones returning to the University of Southern California 20 years after the Twins drafted him to complete his sociology degree in 2018. He also knew his former high school classmate and Montana State basketball Hall of Famer, Quadre Lollis, was returning to school in 2020 to pursue a master’s degree.

Two months after his mother, Debra Morrow, died in June 2020 from complications following surgery, Hawkins decided to give college a try. Beginning at nearby Collin County Community College in McKinney, Texas, Hawkins discovered he could mostly attend via online courses, which allowed him to continue working for the Twins. Jones remembers how excited he was when Hawkins called with the news.

“He got a lot of stuff going, he travels all the time, he is always somewhere, he’s always helping somebody,” Jones said. “When he said he was going to go to school to get his degree, that jazzed me up because he didn’t have to do it.”

Congrats to @LaTroyHawkins32 who graduated today from @SNHU with a degree in sociology.

LaTroy is such a great coworker at the #MNTwins and continues to push himself. Please help me in congratulating him on this awesome accomplishment! Enjoy the night Hawk! pic.twitter.com/7pnq8CXxC2

— Dustin Morse (@morsecode) May 4, 2025

Hawkins said the decision to attend school was made to practice what he’d spent several years preaching to his daughter, Troi, who was a freshman at Concordia University in Irvine, Calif. He recalled a discussion with her about the importance of taking college math — she didn’t think she’d need it — and how Troi bristled at the idea of choosing at 18 what direction her life would head.

When the pandemic later disrupted Troi’s freshman year of college, she found an unexpected ally in her father, for whom college math was extremely hard.

“Sometimes he would text me about his struggles in class and I’d respond with the struggles I was having,” Troi Hawkins said. “It kind of just felt like an open dialogue that didn’t come with a consequence. It was just talking about school. It felt like we were on the same playing field for like the first time ever in my life. We could see eye to eye on a lot of things. … He was super vulnerable with his experiences, which made me super vulnerable with mine. Him going to college made our father-daughter relationship deepen.”

Hawkins’ laughed as he noted his only disappointment with their bond was Troi’s refusal to help him complete homework assignments whenever he was short on time. But he appreciated the insight into his daughter’s thought process, as well as her teaching him how to use Microsoft Excel and create PDF files.

“My first semester was rough,” Hawkins said. “In the second semester, I was like, ‘OK, this is tough. But I can do it.’ … Once I got into school, it really helped me have a deeper understanding of how she thought and how she viewed education.”

Hawkins also now has a better understanding of the financial hardships faced by many college students. The decision to attend community college was made in part because Hawkins wasn’t clear if he’d ever complete his degree and didn’t want to waste money.

Money also affected Hawkins’ decision when he transferred.

He preferred to attend a Texas university and was accepted to Baylor and Rice for the fall 2023 semester. But Hawkins quickly realized how expensive the private universities are and opted to complete his degree at the more affordable choice, SNHU.

Hawkins routinely took four classes per semester, once peaking at five. He often loaded up on summer and winter-break courses to make up time.

Hawkins said he completed most assignments and participated in discussions early in the morning before going to the ballpark. Only once in five years did Hawkins attend in-person classes. While a handful of professors eventually figured out who he was, Hawkins attended college in relative anonymity.

His overall experience improved after Hawkins completed general education classes and moved into his major; it allowed him to incorporate life lessons into group discussions and assignments. Hawkins thinks college helped him become a better listener and communicator.

“Growth doesn’t have an expiration date because dreams don’t come with a pitch clock,” LaTroy Hawkins said of the decision to pursue his degree at 47. (Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)

He’s proud of the example he set for his nephews Edward and Elijah, whose older sister Allyssa graduated from college a week after he did. He hopes the boys and Troi, who works in sports marketing but plans to attend SNHU in the fall to complete her degree, are inspired by seeing multiple family members graduate.

Many family members attended Hawkins’ graduation, which took place in Manchester, N. H. The family rented an AirBnb and stayed for several days, eating meals together while Hawkins was given a tour of the college campus and the school’s baseball facilities.

As she watched her father prepare for the graduation ceremony, Troi noticed he seemed off, unlike anything she’d seen before. When he played for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2010 and 2011, she remembered how he never got nervous. But when he put on his cap and gown, her father wasn’t quite himself.

In the weeks leading up to graduation, Hawkins filled out a profile. Once SNHU recognized his story, they asked if he minded being singled out for recognition during the ceremony. Hawkins acknowledged to his daughter he found it strange to be back in the spotlight.

“I asked him, ‘Is it more scary going up to a mound or this?’” Troi Hawkins said. “And he said, I think this. That’s crazy to think about, you know? You go up to the mound in front of thousands of people, some are vulgar. You’d think that would be more scary.”

Hawkins couldn’t help but laugh when he thought about a moment that would later be publicized through MLB’s social media accounts. The moment is just another positive surprise from his most recent fulfilling adventure.

“Being a pitcher or a professional athlete, eyes are always on you,” Hawkins said. “It comes with the territory. But once you fade into the low lighting that comes on when the movie ends, or (when you’re) playing outside and it starts to get dark, I’ve faded back to that part now. Being back in the limelight, it was a little nerve-wracking.”

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Dorival Júnior deve mudar Corinthians hoje contra o Novorizontino; veja a provável escalação

Futebol

Next

trending_flat

Tottenham vs. Manchester United predicted lineups, projected starting XIs: Heung-Min Sonto start for Spurs

Sports