Throughout Culver-Stockton College’s 150 years there have been many alumni who have graduated from here in all kinds of fields. Many of which return to The Hill to speak to students about professional opportunities that are out there. In the world of sports, Abbey Kortz (‘12) is one of these alumni who returned to tell current students about her journey.
Kortz graduated in 2012 as a Sports Management Major and a Minor in Business. She played soccer while she was working to get her degree where she met many people and built relationships with them. “I still keep in touch with a few people from here, and that’s how I’ve actually been to a few weddings of old college friends”, said Kortz
The Konneker Leadership Series had Kortz address a smaller group of about 50 students in Meaders Lounge. “I applied to the St. Louis Cardinals and their operations department, and I’m sure like a lot of you guys you got denied by email with no interview or phone call. That was really hard. I didn’t get an interview”, said Kortz. Luckily, a friend of hers who got hired by the Cardinals was able to connect Kortz with the hiring manager of the operations department and was offered an internship position in the operations department.
St. Louis losing a professional sports team had Kortz worried about the area. “After the Rams left St. Louis I kind of knew I had to look elsewhere if I wanted to gain more opportunity. So I started to look all over the country and got a job with the Florida Everblades in Fort Meyers, Fla. with their sales department,” said Kortz.
“I did not want to be in sales at all, but I knew if I wanted to really be in my field I needed to make a sacrifice,”said Kortz.
After spending some time with the Everblades and assisting their operations department in her time off, Kortz helped open up US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn. in 2016 with the Sports Marketing Group (SMG). She then moved back to St Louis to work for the Blues as a senior operations manager where she decided that the arena world was not for her and got a job for the Kansas City Chiefs organization as their cleaning convergence supervisor.
“ I really want to work for FIFA and the World Cup and the Olympics as well,” stated Kortz.
After working with the chiefs for 5 years, Kortz chose to move to Tampa , Fl. to work for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an assistant director. “Moving to Tampa was the best decision I have ever made. I love it and have a great group of friends,” stated Kortz.
“When I was your guys’ age I did not think where I would be at right now. You really do need a lot of hard work, passion, drive, and love to be here especially in the sports industry.” said Kortz.
“You can get where I am if you want it, but it’s only up to you and network as much as possible,” said Kortz. “Everything is teachable and I will gladly hands down hire someone even if they have no idea what they are doing as long as you have the drive to do it. I hope to see you guys in my spot one day because it would be awesome to say I helped you get there.”
She encourages students to reach out to anyone they can to find a mentor who can help them get to where they want to be and to even contact her if any students are interested in being in the sports industry. She even said they could follow her on LinkedIn. It can be difficult to get into the industry and having one connection with someone who can help network can make a major impact for students or new graduates looking for a way to take their first steps.
