Tori Speckman
Senior pitcher Tori Speckman is leaving Buffalo in style.
She tossed the school's third no-hitter in program history earlier in the season and now holds the single-season and all-time wins records for UB softball. The health and human services major will return to her native state of Texas after the semester.
Speckman initially came to Buffalo with intentions of becoming a nurse. After taking a few classes, she knew she'd be unable to balance the large workload of a nursing student with being a Division I athlete. She was torn between the possibilities of becoming a nurse or a teacher. The health and human services major provided the foundation for both.
She wants to be a nurse, but isn't ready to look beyond her senior year quite yet.
"I'm too sad right now to think about the future," Speckman said. "I know I need to, I know I need to be a real adult, but I'm just focusing on the games right now."
Despite loving her independence of living away from home, Speckman wants to return to Alvin, Texas, to be around family. She plans to take classes at a local college before applying to nursing schools in Texas.
Speckman is excited to be with family and her family feels the same way.
"My mom keeps calling me every day like, 'I'm so ready for you to be back,'" Speckman said.
The highlights of her senior year include the opportunity to play for Buffalo head coach Trena Peel, the team's opening 6-0 weekend in Louisiana and her no-hitter.
One thing she won't miss is the snow. She's ready to return to the warmth and beaches of Texas.
"The snow is here too long," Speckman said.
Jimmy Topps
Senior outfielder Jimmy Topps hopes to continue his playing career after graduation, but is unsure if he will have the opportunity to.
He plans on returning home to his native Chicago for the summer to spend time with his family and friends, whom he has not had the opportunity to hang out with since he's been in Buffalo. He wants to relax and let his body recover "from being banged up from playing," he said.
If Topps does not get drafted by a major league team, he may not continue playing baseball, as he questions whether playing in an independent baseball league would be worth it.
"A lot of players play five to 10 years in independent ball and then nothing ever happens," Topps said. "You wonder if it's a waste of time."
Topps said it has been "overwhelming" coming to the realization his baseball career may be at its end, but he is also ready for whatever comes next.
"[Baseball has] molded me into the character I am and the man I've become," Topps said. "It's tough to see it go, but sometimes you just got to move on and be ready to take on any other obstacles or challenges and I think I'm ready for that, to start my life and career, wherever that is. Whatever I'll be doing, I'll be happy."
If he cannot continue playing, one of Topps' future careers might be in the dugout. He would like to coach baseball at either the high school or college level because he wants to "pass on the knowledge not only on the field but off the field" and he believes the sport helps young boys become men.
"Everyone has got one thing they're good at," Topps said. "Baseball is mine, so I don't see why I would ever want to stop playing or coaching it."
Alex Dennison
When former tight end Alex Dennison leaves Buffalo this summer after five years, he won't be moving on to the NFL or a white-collar job. Instead, he will be on the sidelines at Illinois Wesleyan University as a graduate assistant and wide receivers coach.
Dennison is planning to pursue a graduate degree in recreation administration at Illinois State while coaching.
He became interested in coaching after experiencing a coaching change when Turner Gill left Buffalo for Kansas following Dennison's true freshman year.
"Just seeing the relationships that can be developed with coaches and how they can affect someone's life in a positive or negative way by the time that they graduate and how you can have someone ready and prepared to get into the real world whenever they graduate college," Dennison said.
Through college, Dennison realized the large role coaches play in their players' lives. The ages of 18 to 23 are integral to becoming a good man, Dennison said, and because many football players leave home to go to school, coaches take on a paternal role in their lives.
In order to pursue a coaching position, Dennison attended the American Football Coaches Association Convention - an event that attracts thousands of coaches - in January of this year, where he came across head coach Jeff Quinn.
Quinn introduced him to Illinois Wesleyan head coach Norm Eash. Dennison and Eash exchanged information, and at the end of February, Eash invited Dennison to campus for an interview.
A week and a half later, Dennison found out he got the job. Dennison said Quinn was instrumental in helping him get the position, something that plays into Dennison's views on a coach's role in his players' lives.
"You kind of realize that it's more than the football part of it; you really have to be an outlet and an asset to help your players," Dennison said. "And I think that's another way of getting your players to want to play for you more. If they know that you are going to be there for them in any other situation other than football, they're going to do whatever it takes to satisfy you on the field."
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