Semoball Awards speaker's message one of tough choices and a dream

Brian Jordan made his MLB debut with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1992. He will be the keynote speaker at the 2024 Semoball Awards on July 12 at LaCroix Church in Cape Girardeau.

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“If you believe, you can achieve anything in life.”

“And it all starts with a dream.”

That is the theme of the speech former St. Louis Cardinals slugger Brian Jordan is set to deliver as the keynote speaker at the 2024 Semoball Awards on July 12 at LaCroix Church.

“You’re going to be tested along the way,” Jordan said. “But you always got to believe in yourself. Be positive, be resilient, and I’ve talked about some of the rough times that I’ve had.”

Jordan’s path to athletic fame came with difficult choices that had to be made at various points. He was a professional athlete in both football and baseball. He played defensive back for the Atlanta Falcons from 1989 to 1991 but the Cardinals paid him a bonus for him to give football up and start his MLB career in 1992.

Mercy is the presenting sponsor of the Semoball Awards, the area’s premier awards show recognizing student-athletes and coaches in Southeast Missouri.

“I was more committed to football at the start,” Jordan said. “And then after three years of being an alternate at the Pro Bowl, in my third year I was starting to take off, the Cardinals felt like I was good enough to make that move to the Major Leagues.

“That was a tough decision in my life,” he said. “I believe if I didn’t have a family at the time, I probably would have stuck with football a little longer. But the fact that I was married and had our first daughter, I decided that would be the smarter choice just to play baseball.”

It indeed turned out to be the right move, as Jordan spent 15 years in the big leagues, finishing with a .282 batting average, 184 home runs, and 821 RBIs. He made the All-Star team and his only World Series appearance in 1999 with the Braves, whom he also works as a broadcaster for as a TV pre-game analyst on Ballys Sports South.

Also for Jordan, trying to hit Mets pitcher Sid Fernandez’ fastball made for a much easier debut than trying to tackle NFL legend Barry Sanders as a rookie defensive back.

Before his professional career, Jordan, a native of Baltimore, was on his way to play college football at Maryland, where he always wanted to play. However, the Terrapins did not permit him to play both football and baseball, so he had to make the decision to either stick to football at his dream school or leave it behind to play both sports at Richmond, which was a lower subdivision of Division I football.

“I looked back at my parents and had to make one of the toughest choices in my life,” Jordan said. “I decided to go to the University of Richmond, who would let me do both because that was my dream as a kid. And I was not gonna let the University of Maryland stop my pursuit of playing two professional sports.”

Jordan is an ideal speaker for this class of award finalists. New Madrid County Central senior Jadis Jones, who won Male Athlete of the Year last year and could potentially repeat this year, previously had aspirations of playing both football and basketball in college. He committed to playing football at Coastal Carolina before his senior season but decommited after the fall and later signed to play basketball at Lindenwood.

“We believe people will enjoy hearing his life story and the lessons he’s learned along the way,” said Southeast Missourian assistant publisher and general manager Lucas Presson, who made the announcement alongside Mercy Southeast President Ryan Geib.

Despite all the changes in sports over the past two decades, Jordan is as encouraged as ever in the current state of athletics, especially at the high school level.

“I'm very encouraged,” Jordan said. “It doesn't matter what sport it is. It's just for me, it’s seeing young kids play sports, keep their minds occupied, and understand the importance of academics to get to college. I think more and more young athletes want to go to college and live that college life and I think that's important that we continue to influence young kids to gain that attitude even before they get to high school. So I think sports is booming right now.”

The Semoball Awards are presented by Mercy and brought to you by official bank sponsor The Bank of Missouri and title sponsors SEMO ESPN Radio, the St. Louis Cardinals, rustmedia and your local newspaper.

Tickets, including a limited number of VIP meet-and-greet tickets with Brian Jordan, can be purchased online at semoball.com/awards.