Impact Of A Scholarship: Tom Curtiss
Daniel Lawall, Maryland Media Relations
9/30/2021
Even though he tendered interest and scholarship offers from more than 30 other schools, Tom Curtiss knew that the University of Maryland was the ideal spot for his collegiate baseball career.
At first, the concept of playing college baseball at a big school wasn’t his first choice. Coming out of The Haverford School, a small private high school in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Curtiss was initially attracted to that same environment.
He yearned for the intimate, familiar but competitive environment of a smaller institution, one that he felt would be more comfortable.
“Out of high school, I was recruited by maybe 30-ish schools,” Curtiss said, who came to Maryland in the Fall of 1995. “Originally, when I was looking at colleges, I said, ‘oh, I’ll just go to a small school and be a big fish in a small sea.’ But then I totally switched gears and said, ‘no, I really want to play Division I baseball in the ACC.’”
I can’t thank the donors enough for the opportunity that they were able to bless me with. Having a scholarship to Maryland really changed the trajectory of my life. I think about it almost every day, how lucky I was to be able to play baseball in college and then play professionally because of the opportunities that a scholarship had afforded me. I can’t thank them enough.Tom Curtiss
It all began with his recruiting trip to Maryland late in his high school career. He remembers the trip and the basketball game he was brought to, clearly and fondly.
“I met with the baseball coaches right at Cole Field House … and I thought it was awesome. I was lucky enough to attend the basketball game that night. It was when, I think, UNC was No. 1 and they had Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse, I believe, and we had Joe Smith,” Curtiss said of the titanic victory on Feb. 7, 1995. “We ended up beating them that night. I mean, just being able to be around that environment in Cole Field House, I never would have been able to get into that game if I wasn’t on my recruiting trip.”
But it wasn’t just the prospect of playing Division I baseball in a competitive Atlantic Coast Conference that brought Curtiss to College Park. Maryland offered what other schools couldn’t.
“It was the best possible combination for me because Maryland is only about two hours from Philadelphia, so my parents could come see the games pretty often,” Curtiss said. “Maryland also said I could come right in as a freshman and pitch and play first base and do both of those things I wanted to do, which was awesome.”
[Maryland] really opened my eyes, and it really gave me an opportunity to broaden my horizons and interact with different types of people from different communities.Tom Curtiss
Just interacting with so many people on a daily basis over four years, I feel like that made me really in a better spot. When I was playing baseball, I could understand where people were coming from, different perspectives and try to learn from them. When I got to the business world, there were a lot of things that my classes set me up for.
His attraction went far beyond his athletic opportunities, according to Curtiss, who was able to access advanced learning opportunities while attending the University.
“I also got admitted into the College Park Scholars program, which was awesome to kind of push it over the top. But I also really liked Washington D.C. and the proximity to Washington D.C., so I could, you know, cruise into town if I wanted to see all the sights and do all the things. Even though it wasn’t exactly in the big city, it was close to the big city, similar to where I grew up, so it was a very similar situation. I just felt comfortable.”
His comfort translated to a fruitful baseball career. While suiting up for the Terps, the tall southpaw shone brightest against his most difficult opponents, rising to the challenge of facing the nation’s most potent lineups.
Playing ACC baseball in the late 1990s meant competing against some of the country’s best young baseball talent. Curtiss says he was most fond of the opportunities to play against those teams.
“When I was a senior, I was basically the number one pitcher on the baseball team. We were playing a home game against Florida State, which was nationally ranked. I think they were in the top-25 or top-10,” Curtiss said. “My family was able to be there, so it was a Friday night, a couple of thousand people in attendance … and I was able to strike out the first seven Florida State guys.”
Thanks to his production on the field, Curtiss was named the ACC Player of the Week in June of 1999, his senior season. He tossed 8.2 innings of one-run ball against No. 15 North Carolina to earn the award, tacking on nine strikeouts with just four hits allowed.
That, combined with his stellar start against Florida State brought Curtiss firmly into the conversation for the next level: professional baseball. Curtiss says that the facilities, campus, and opportunities provided by the University helped him reach his ultimate goal.
“I was pretty good as a senior, but the Atlanta Braves scout was at that [Florida State] game. He had never seen me before, and when I started striking out all these guys that are really good, that kind of got his attention,” he said.
“The next week, I pitched against Duke in the ACC Championship play-in game, and I pitched really well again there. So that scout that had seen me that previous week, his boss was there at the Duke game in Durham. And then what ended up happening a couple of weeks later is I was drafted by the Atlanta Braves. It was a cool experience. It really kind of changed the trajectory of my life. Being able to play professional baseball is something I’ll always have and can say, and it was a really cool experience. Without Maryland, I don’t think I would've been able to do that.”
After three seasons in affiliated professional baseball with the Braves, Curtiss hung his cleats up to transition into the professional world. He currently works at the German consumer goods company, Henkel, as a Manager of Revenue Management, leveraging the skills he learned as an economics major at Maryland to progress in his professional ventures.
“[Maryland] really opened my eyes, and it really gave me an opportunity to broaden my horizons and interact with different types of people from different communities,” he said.
“Just interacting with so many people on a daily basis over four years, I feel like that made me really in a better spot. When I was playing baseball, I could understand where people were coming from, different perspectives and try to learn from them. When I got to the business world, there were a lot of things that my classes set me up for.”
His degree has helped him everywhere he has gone. Curtiss says he has had plenty of peers pleased with his ability to bring a B.A. in economics from Maryland along with him.
Curtiss credits a lot of his life’s path to his time at Maryland. For him, College Park was a perfect storm of a welcoming campus, challenging academics, and competitive athletic programs.
“I can’t thank the donors enough for the opportunity that they were able to bless me with. Having a scholarship to Maryland really changed the trajectory of my life,” he said. “I think about it almost every day, how lucky I was to be able to play baseball in college and then play professionally because of the opportunities that a scholarship had afforded me. I can’t thank them enough.”
