Philadelphia sports legends Mike Quick and Ruben Amaro Jr. serve as professionals in residence for popular Sports CaM program

Philadelphia sports icons Mike Quick and Ruben Amaro Jr., legendary for careers with the Eagles and the Phillies as well as for broadcasting careers that followed their playing days, this year join Rowan University's popular and growing Sports Communication and Media (Sports CaM) program as professionals in residence.

As part of their Rowan affiliation, the pair will deliver a series of guest lectures for students aspiring to professional sports industry careers of their own.

Amaro, who gave several guest lectures at the request of Sports CaM Senior Director Neil Hartman in 2022-23, returns to the program's lineup, while Quick leads his first Rowan classes this year.

Both will speak to sections of the classes Inside the Front Office and History of Sport in Philadelphia.

"For me, it's a nice way to be able to talk about what it is to be in the sports industry," said Amaro, a native Philadelphian who enjoyed a storied Major League Baseball career.

A lifelong fan of the game, Amaro was a batboy for the Phillies when his father, Ruben Amaro Sr., was the team's first base coach. He played in the MLB from 1991 to 1998, twice with the Phillies (1992-93 and 1996-98), once with the California Angels (1991), and once with the Cleveland Indians (1994-95). He was also an assistant manager for Philadelphia from 1998 through 2008, when the team won its second World Series, a first base coach for the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets, and, from 2009 to 2015, general manager for the Phillies.

Now a color commentator for the Phillies television broadcast, he's also a contributor on the 94.1 WIP Morning Show in Philadelphia.

"I've had a unique background as I've been on all sides, other than representing the players," Amaro said. "From scouting to coaching to playing to working in the front office, my perspective gives the students a variety of layers of what it is to be involved in this industry."

Quick played his entire NFL career, from 1982 to 1990, with the Eagles. During that time, the wide receiver was twice named a First-team All-Pro, went to the Pro Bowl five times, was the NFL receiving yards leader in 1983, tied an NFL record for the longest receiving touchdown (99 yards) and has been inducted into the Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame.

For the past 26 years, he's enjoyed a second NFL career as a color commentator for Eagles radio broadcasts on 94.1 WIP alongside legendary play-by-play analyst Merrill Reese.

A communications major at North Carolina State University, Quick said he went into business for himself after his playing days and segued into broadcasting when an opportunity arose with Comcast SportsNet.

"I'd go in the studio for a segment called Mondays with Mike," a show in which he'd analyze the previous day's game, he said.

Which led to his on-air partnership with Reese.

"I could not have imagined I'd go into a second profession that I've now been in for 26 years," Quick said. "It's truly been special to share the seat next to Merrill."

A great program that's still growing

Located in the Ric Edelman College of Communication & Creative Arts, Sports CaM prepares students for a wide range of media careers in collegiate and professional athletics.

Hartman, an Emmy Award-winning former Philadelphia sportscaster, has known Amaro and Quick for decades, and knew they'd be natural professionals in residence.

"The program is highly professionalized with the faculty, the guest speakers and lecturers, and these guys fit the mold perfectly," Hartman said.

He said the Sports CaM program, which began five years ago, has been extraordinarily successful in helping students launch industry careers, with graduates now working for a wide variety of clubs and organizations including the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Flyers and NFL Films.

The program emphasizes internships, and, to help facilitate enough, has forged partnerships with several professional organizations, including the Delaware Blue Coats, an affiliate of the Philadelphia 76ers, the Wilmington Blue Rocks, an affiliate of the Washington Nationals, and Cage Fury Fighting Championships, a feeder organization for Ultimate Fighting Championship. Together, those partnerships provide dozens of internships per semester.

With 340 students enrolled as majors and another 25 as minors, the program shows no signs of slowing down.

"I want our program to be as competitive as any other institution" Hartman said. "We want to make it bigger and better and it all begins with getting really good students. Then it's about giving them the opportunity to excel and being there for them."

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.