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Where Are They Now? Ross Burgess

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June 24, 2009
Valley-West Des Moines

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? ROSS BURGESS

VALLEY: 2001-2004

June 23, 2009

If you love something why not surround yourself with it as long as you can?

“Being a catcher for so long, I thought I’d be good at it,” said former Iowa High School Player of the Year Ross Burgess. “I figured it was great way to stay around the game, I wanted to try and do that rather than working a construction job like I did the previous summers. I just thought it would be a good fit at that point, and it turned out to be.”

Burgess is currently in his fourth summer of umpiring and was preparing to umpire yet another varsity baseball game when I spoke with him about his life since high school.

The high school diamond is a world he’s been entrenched in since his All-State and championship days at Valley back in 2003 and 2004.

Burgess won two state titles playing catcher and first base for the Tigers during his junior and senior seasons, earning All-State rights in both. He also was fullback and linebacker on two additional state championship teams while playing football. However baseball was always where his true love and talents lie.

After graduating in 2004 he had aspirations of pursuing his baseball career in possibly the Big 12, or Big 10. Things didn’t work out as he hoped.

“I’m not the tallest guy, I’m only five-eleven,” Burgess said. “I was OK at first base, but I never played until my junior year. It was more a fielding issue I guess. I mean the Big Twelve is really tough.”

Burgess was still torn on what he wanted to do with his post-high school career and he was approaching the time when he needed to make a decision, than an old teammate took the reigns.

“A guy I played with at Valley, Ryan Tousley, was playing at Johnson County Junior College in Overland Park, Kansas, and he really liked it,” Burgess said. “So I called him and he told me I should come down and swing it in the cage for the coach. He told me that if the coach saw me he’d probably offer me a scholarship, and he did.”

So Burgess spent two seasons at the JUCO in the Kansas City suburb. He started at catcher immediately and played very well both seasons. He enjoyed his time in the area too, which is always important for a person that age.

“I really liked the area I lived in down there, I really enjoyed it,” Burgess said. “It reminded me of West Des Moines on steroids; it’s a bigger suburb and just a real nice area.”

After his two years were up at the JUCO, he decided his playing days were going to be done.

“I didn’t want to walk on somewhere as a transfer with only two years left of eligibility, it would have been too difficult,” Burgess said.

He was always a die-hard Cyclone fan so he continued his education in Ames, and studied at the business college. Ironically enough Iowa State has no NCAA sponsored baseball team, so there was no temptation for Burgess to try and walk on there.

Just because Burgess wasn’t playing baseball didn’t mean his passion for the game left. Immediately after his playing days ended, his umpiring interest was peaked.

A friend and former roommate of his had been umpiring for awhile at that point and Burgess decided to give it a go. He started by doing AAU games and umpiring for younger kids. And he was good enough and enjoyed it enough that he decided he wanted more.

“I said if I’m going to do this than I want to make good money, and I want to get a lot of games in and I want to do high school. So I gathered the information and took the test and got certified right away,” Burgess said.

Two weeks ago Burgess graduated from Iowa State with a degree in Operations and Supply Chain Management. He’s currently in the midst of interviewing for jobs in that field where he can begin a career. However he is still going to umpire frequently throughout this summer and he still greatly aspires to go to umpire school and get a minor league contract. It’s just not something he can do at this moment in time.

“A, I don’t have enough money to pay for it right now. And B, I need to get a job with the degree I just got and save some money,” Burgess said. “I’ll always do umpiring at some level because it’ll at least keep me around the game that I’ve loved my whole life.”

No matter what happens in his life, he’s confident that things will turn out in a positive way, and that’s always a comforting thought for your mind.

“One thing I know is that as you get older, your priorities change,” Burgess said. “Five years from now I could be starting a family, who knows. But I feel like my background and where I am now, puts me in a position to be happy doing something in five years.”

TJ Rushing, High School Playbook

P.S.

Here is one of Burgess’s umpiring philosophy’s he shared with me…. "If you let people continually get away with getting after you than everyone’s going to do it and it becomes almost a culture in the dugout. You have to put your foot down and keep the situation under control in order to let the game go smoothly, because that’s part of the job.”

Burgess on umpiring Valley games…. "This year I said I don’t want to do any Valley games, just because all the coach’s know where I played and I did a game last year and to be honest I was harder on Valley than the other team. It was almost uncomfortable; it’s a situation where I’d rather root for Valley than call a game for them.”

Here’s some advice from burgess to the new wave of high school baseball players… "When you’re playing in high school you really need to enjoy it while you can, because you’ll miss it, even when you’re playing in college, it’s a totally different world. Some of my favorite memories come from high school sports.”

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