Specht-acular: Dual-sport athlete readies for second FMU degree

Warren Specht has seen the highs and lows of being a student athlete Francis Marion University. He knows the pressure that goes along with mid-week road trips to Peach Belt conference opponents that are followed up the next morning with pressure-packed business class presentations.

After graduating from Francis Marion with his degree in Management Information Systems, Specht is coming back for more.

More education. More Patriot athletics, too.

The Kansas native has used up his basketball eligibility, but he still qualifies for other sports, including baseball. He was a two-sport star in high school – a hard-throwing pitcher as well as a three-point sharpshooter. He’s going to join the Patriot baseball team this spring while pursuing his Master’s in Business Administration degree.

“My first love has always been baseball,” Specht says.

Specht transferred to FMU two years ago from Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. He was a regular in the Patriot lineup the past two years, and a starter on last year’s NCAA tournament team.

Specht’s high mark at FMU was a buzzer-beating, game-tying three-pointer he made while falling out of bounds against USC AIken last January. Specht’s hope-and-a-prayer shot tied the game at the end of regulation, sending the Patriots to overtime. They won in the extra period, gaining a key Peach Belt Conference victory.

“Being such a sports fanatic and loving sports so much, that gaming-tying shot is probably the peak of my career here,” Specht says. “Getting to experience that is kind of unreal. Anything other than that will be hard to top because there was just so much joy after that.”

Specht’s sporting prowess is no surprise. His family tree is dotted with athletes. His sister played basketball at Drake University, his father played at Emporia State University, and his grandfather played at Kansas State University. His mother was a dual-sport athlete at KSU, where she ran track and played volleyball.

Specht will continue his athletics pursuits this fall, but he knows that the position he’s in is rare and he’s thankful to be in it.

“FMU’s been so good to me and provided me a great platform to grow and even more so, by giving me an opportunity to play baseball,” he says. “It’s just awesome to be able to do this and earn a second degree at the same time.”