Impact of a Scholarship: Kenny Beck

While growing up in Howard County and having a father who was a tenured professor at the University of Maryland, becoming a Maryland Terrapin himself was always the path that Kenny Beck wanted to take.

Some of Beck’s fondest memories are from his father taking him to his very first football game at Maryland and watching the Maryland men’s basketball team on television during the Joe Smith era.

“As a kid growing up in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metro area, when it comes to college athletics the Terps are it,” Beck said.

He took a recruiting visit to College Park with a few other guys from the area that were looking to play baseball for the Terps. Maryland’s current hitting coach Matt Swope was on the same recruiting trip as Beck and the two took their talents locally to play at Maryland and were teammates for four years.

It was a different type of visit for Beck though, who knew he was going to school at Maryland to study broadcast journalism and was recruited as a walk-on before earning a partial scholarship as a senior in 2002.

“It was awesome being there and knowing that was where I was going to go to school and that the baseball team also had an interest in me,” Beck said.

His recruiting visit to campus was not the first time that he stepped foot on what was then Shipley Field. Beck had been to Shipley Field several times for summer baseball camps, but to see the locker room and jerseys for the first time sold him even more on becoming a Terp.

Beck possesses one of the most interesting baseball careers. As a walk-on he did not letter in his freshman year, but he was the bullpen catcher and got about 20 at bats. Beck stated that he was probably the third or fourth best catcher on the roster. The Terps also went through some coaching changes during his sophomore and junior year, while he was still getting reps as a catcher.

Before a scrimmage during his junior year in 2001, Beck was joking around in the outfield while shagging fly balls. He attempted several throws while dropping to a submarine sidearm release point, which caught the attention of pitching coach Ben Bachmann. 

“He asked me if I had ever pitched before,” Beck stated. “I told him mostly overhand and he said, ‘let’s work with that submarine a little bit.’ I am so glad he noticed that because that was what ended up turning my baseball career into something that was really going nowhere to being a fairly reliable contributor out of the bullpen.”

Beck, who was once the bullpen catcher, became the Terrapins’ closer in his senior season and tied the program record for saves in a single season in 2002. The submarine relief pitcher was then drafted in the 48th round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft by the Montreal Expos, going just 26 rounds after Swope to the same organization. 

Beck played one season and a spring training in Minor League Baseball before his baseball career ended and his broadcasting career took off. After graduating magna cum laude from Maryland with a degree in broadcast journalism, Beck had an interview for a sports reporting position with WVIR, the NBC-affiliate in Charlottesville. He was drafted a few days later and called the station to let them know.

“I called the guy back and said, ‘look, I don’t know if you’ve made a decision yet but I’ve been drafted,’” Beck said. “He said, ‘we haven’t made a decision but what decision is there to make, you’d be nuts not to go play baseball.’ He said the broadcasting will be here when I am done and begged me to play baseball.”

Beck has been in the broadcasting industry since the fall of 2003 when he started at WMDT, the ABC-affiliate in Salisbury, Maryland. He has been an anchor and reporter at WXII 12 News and Triad CW since 2007 and he’s gotten to cover presidential political rallies, severe weather, national sports championships, human interest stories and so much more. He also spent time as a sports director before becoming an anchor.

He credits the University of Maryland and his baseball career for a lot of his success in local news.

“When I was interviewing to come to WXII, the news director specifically brought up my baseball career and said he could think of ways that my bio was going to be read,” Beck said. “He said every other person had a similar bio, but mine was going to say that I was a professional athlete and that’s really cool. It’s a cool conversation starter.”

Beck shot a story with the High Point Rockers, a professional baseball team in the Atlantic League, in late July. The league has a deal with MLB where they implement some experimental rules, so the Atlantic League moved the pitchers mound back a foot from home plate and they now pitched 61 feet and six inches away. Beck was invited to throw a bullpen session from both the normal distance and the experimental distance and give his thoughts. 

“That was a fabulous opportunity and I had a blast doing it,” he said. “That alone is an opportunity that I would not have had, had it not been for my career at Maryland and beyond.”

As a senior, Beck went 1-1 with a team-leading 2.08 ERA in a team-leading 25 appearances out of the bullpen. He recorded seven saves, which tied the program record and also struck out 26 batters in 26 innings pitched. 

The Terps beat William & Mary, 10-8, in the final home game of the 2002 season and Beck was able to close out the game and pick up the record-tying save. Additionally, he helped secure the program record for wins in a season as a team. This became one of the most memorable moments of his career, in addition to his first appearance on the mound.

Maryland was playing Clemson during his junior season and he was brought into the game during a high-leverage situation out of the bullpen. He faced Clemson’s Khalil Greene and struck him out to escape the jam. Greene would end up winning the Golden Spikes award in 2002, recognizing college baseball’s best player.

“That was the first time that it really occurred to me that I could compete at this level against some of the best players in the country,” Beck said. “That was an appearance that I will remember for the rest of my life.”

His performance on the mound helped him earn a scholarship as a senior and Beck is more thankful for that today than he was back then.

“It is impossible to know, at the time, the impact that your money is going to have on a student athlete,” he said. “Also, the potential impact is limitless. You will never regret doing what you can financially to make a Maryland athlete and a Maryland sports program better.”

Beck really enjoys seeing Maryland’s continued success across all sports and much like how his father took him to games growing up, he had the chance to bring his kids to the place that he once called home.

“It’s great to see things get bigger and bigger,” Beck said.

From growing up dreaming to become a Terp, to being the bullpen catcher, a submarine reliever, earning a scholarship, getting drafted, playing professional baseball and working in television, Beck has been impacted tremendously by the University of Maryland.