If Luke Duris ’19 is prepared for any one thing, it’s baseball. Whether its a position on or near the field, the scholar-athlete plans to use his experience, both athletic and academic, to get him there.
And for the economics major it’s already off to a great start. This summer, following his graduation, he will play professionally for the Senart Templiers, a team located in France.
As a dual citizen in France and the U.S., Duris will also be joining the French national team as they play in several European and international tournaments this summer. In particular, he’ll be heading to Germany for the European Championships. After that, he’s off to Italy for the Olympic Qualifiers.
“I have been playing with the French National Team since I was 15 for the u18 [under 18] team, and, now that I am older, I get an opportunity to play with the official national team,” he said.
Duris, however, has ambitions in both the athletic and non-athletic dimensions of the sport. After finishing up in Europe, he plans to return to the U.S. and pursue a career working for a team in Major League Baseball.
“My long-term goal is certainly to be a general manager of an MLB team, or any sport really,” he said. “I would really enjoy to make contractual and transactional decisions for a franchise. The next step is just getting in the door with a team, hopefully as a data analytics worker.”
Duris’ devotion to both the sport itself and the administrative aspects of it reflects the double attention to baseball and coursework that he carried out while at Haverford.
“Haverford allowed me to be well rounded as a scholar athlete,” Duris said. “I did not just play a game or learn economics. Instead, it allowed for combination of both where I could dissect the game of baseball itself while playing with the mind of a scholar.”
Though Duris’ sights are set high, he’s mapped out a path to realize his goals. He plans to communicate with the Haverford alumni network which is present in Major League Baseball and to seize whatever opportunities he can to demonstrate the versatile skill set he’s developed.
But before any of that can materialize, the recent graduate still has a series of international circuits to play in this summer.
“Where They’re Headed” is a blog series reporting on the post-collegiate plans of recent Haverford graduates.