Scholar Stories: Kerr Continuing a Family Legacy at Michigan
11/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Every Wednesday during the 2016-17 academic year, MGoBlue.com will highlight a different student-athlete and their academic path. These are our Scholar Stories.
Jimmy Kerr has been a Wolverine from birth. But his family's legacy at the University of Michigan started long before then.
A third-generation student-athlete, the sophomore infielder is part of a Michigan baseball family that began with his grandfather, John, who was a pitcher on Michigan's 1962 national championship team.
Jimmy's dad, Derek, was teammates with Jim Abbott and Barry Larkin during his time at Michigan and made it to two College World Series. He has remained a diehard Michigan fan. Says Jimmy, "My dad probably hasn't missed a football game since he graduated."
The youngest Kerr now relishes the opportunity to continue his family's legacy.
Jimmy, like his father, is majoring in aerospace engineering. Instead of jumping into the aviation industry -- Derek is the CFO for American Airlines -- Jimmy sees himself on a different frontier entirely, one quite literally out of this world. He wants to be an engineer for NASA.
For Kerr, whose sister also attends Michigan, everything about the school represents family.
"Michigan has been more than I ever could have possibly expected, how great it is," he said. "The whole family aspect. I think of the university as a family environment because it brings my whole family together."
As a baseball player, his Michigan family extends beyond bloodlines.
"Immediately when I got here, I knew the best friends for the rest of my life would be here," he continued. "The guys on the team are all incredible, and being part of something bigger than myself is something that Coach Bakich constantly emphasizes."
While he ultimately plans on putting his engineering degree to work and then attending business school, Kerr wants first to do everything he can to fulfill his childhood dream of playing professional baseball.
"Every coach I've ever had has told me to play baseball as long as you have the opportunity to," he said. "If the opportunity presents itself to continue past college, I'd love to give that a try."
Looking to prolong his baseball career, Kerr will head to Sanford, Maine, to play in the New England Collegiate Baseball League this coming summer. Last summer, he took classes while competing in the Great Lakes League in Flat Rock, about a half hour southeast of Ann Arbor.
Finding a way to balance engineering and the time demands of high-level Division I baseball has its difficulties, but Kerr stressed that the environment around Michigan baseball made his transition easier than he thought it might be.
"You walk in and you have a family of 35 guys the second you get here," he explained. "Playing a sport, especially the influence the coaches have had, has helped me be more productive outside of the classroom. We're always tired, but baseball has really shown me the importance of putting in the work on the field, and outside the classroom, if I want to be successful academically and athletically."
As a freshman, he hit .375 in limited playing time, contributing enough to prove to himself that he belongs on this level. But it's Kerr's decision to simultaneously subject himself to the rigors of both baseball and engineering that has set him up to be as successful off the field as he has been on it.
Last year, a guest speaker who specialized in athlete psychology inspired Kerr.
"One of his main goals is to convince student-athletes that working harder in the classroom makes them better athletes as a whole, and that they go hand in hand."
Maybe Kerr ends up playing past college. If not, he'll always have his degree and the support of his families -- one through blood, the other through baseball.
