As a college athlete, we spent a lot of time thinking about the end—

the end of the practice,

the end of the race,

the end of the season—

but we rarely thought about what would happen after the end of college athletics itself.

But that day has come—Even though some of us will go on to become professional athletes, we are still leaving behind our college accomplishments.

I remember when my hand touched the wall at the end of my last swimming race, everything … I had worked for … suddenly shifted to past tense.

I was a swimmer.

I swam.

And I remember whispering to myself, “I did it”…

But now, as I look around this room I want to tell you all, “we did it.”…

And, as many of you know, my story of being a Razorback athlete is a little different than most.

I transferred here after my sophomore year. And even though I didn’t know it yet, I bled Razorback red.

I remember when I first arrived on campus, I hardly knew anyone, and I hardly knew what the environment was going to be like.

For example, there are a lot of hills … I mean a lot.

I remember after leg workouts in Bev. Lewis, I would be crawling uphill to class. I’d be holding up the line, I’d always turn around and apologize … I’m an athlete, I swear. Don’t judge me, it was leg day.

Second, the first time I heard the Hog Call I thought we were just practicing our spirit fingers until figured what was going.

And third, no matter how hard I tried, I could never find a parking space.

So, why did I come here? Why did I stay here? Why did I finish all 19 years of a sport that consists of starring a black line at the bottom of a pool, and then hiking, and I mean hiking uphill to class with wet hair and goggle marks around my eyes?

Why did any of us come here? Why did we all stay?

I believe all of us athletes have heard the old motto since the beginning of time that college athletics will give us the greatest experiences of our lives.

Looking back now… I must admit, I couldn’t agree more.

But over our years as college athletes, it was easy to lose sight of that when we were constantly faced with the

uphill battle of slamming our alarms off at 5:00 in the morning to voluntarily push our body’s limits … Every … Single … Day.

It was easy to lose sight of that every time we had the uphill battle of rushing to do homework the night before it was due on a plane flying back after competition or a game.

It was easy to lose sight of that every time we had the uphill battle of trying to figure out how we could make up all our study hall hours in one night.

And it was easy to lose sight of that every time we had to say “No” –

“No” to all the Greek Life parties we had to miss because we had practice the next morning;

“No” to celebrating certain holidays because we were in the middle of our seasons; or really

“No” to anything a “normal” Arkansas student gets to do.

But now, as I’m adjusting to my life as a swammer, and I get to say YES to everything, I also have time to reflect and ask myself “Why?”

Why do we do what we do?  Why is dropping half a second in a race, mastering a hard routine on the balance beam or scoring a touchdown so important?

I’m convinced that no matter what sport or what team, it boils down to two things.

Two things that make being a Razorback so important to us that nothing else could ever compare.

The first is being uncommon:

Being an Arkansas athlete has taught us to be uncommon;

Rare, unique, remarkable exceptional. Uncommon.

There are a lot of lions, tigers, bears out there but there is only one Razorback.

We are the only school who makes the sky bleed Razorback red the night before a football game … A sky filled with the color of pride.

We are the only school where we don’t just leave our footprints behind – we leave our names engraved on Senior walk. We are uncommon.

Being uncommon means when we fall, we get up. When our goals were uphill battles, we kept climbing … because we knew how the view from the top would look. We are uncommon.

The second thing that makes being a Razorback so important is pride.

After competing as a Razorback, I learned to have pride in our school, our athletics, our state, and in each other. Pride, gratification, fulfillment, respect, pride.

Have pride and be proud. We are all a part of something bigger than ourselves. We have the entire state of Arkansas cheering for us.

We attend a school where the word “Razorback” follows the word “Arkansas” involuntarily.

We are more than a brand, a mascot, we are not mere labels…we are idols.

We all have learned to be too proud to quit.

Too proud to give in to the pain, the agony.

We were too proud to stop climbing.

And that’s something we will take away from athletics and apply to life.

We will never stop climbing; our pride won’t let us.

We are razorbacks. We are proud.

And I’m sad to admit that this will probably be the last time I’m surrounded by my Razorback family.

Thank you for making these last two and a half years I’ve spent with you all remarkable.

And lastly, team … never forget what Arkansas athletics are about … never forget who you represent, never forget the opportunities opened to you as part this program.

Never forget… that we are uncommon

Never forget …to have pride.

And never forget the uphill battle we conquered as Razorback Athletes.

Everyone in this room…take a deep breath with me … look around and enjoy the view from the top.

Team … we made it.

Thank you for having me … and never forget to keep on climbing.