Hubbard’s Slemons went from baseball to accounting

By JOHN BASSETTI

sports@vindy.com

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.

In accounting terms, Bo Slemons turned a liability into an asset – with his life.

The 2010 Hubbard High graduate was looking forward to a successful college career in baseball at Xavier University before he had the misfortune of a knee injury on his first day of practice as a freshman.

“I didn’t have a stellar start that was anticipated because my very first practice freshman year, I tore my ACL, so I red-shirted right off the bat.”

Slemons rehabbed for eight months, then went down to play summer ball in Spartanburg, S.C. Coming back for his sophomore year, Bo expected to play a lot more.

“But I really turned into more of a role player pretty much until I graduated, so it didn’t go quite the way I wanted it to,” said Slemons, now 27 and living in St. Petersburg, Fla., while perambulating his way in the business world as a Certified Public Accountant.

“Looking back, I wouldn’t change the past,” he said. “A lot of it was out of my control [with the injury], but I think it kind of strengthened the second half [of college], changing the focus from a sports career into the professional career. Obviously, getting where you want to go is not always a straight path – there are some bumps in the road – and, going through all that [injury and not playing as much] kind of showed me what it takes to get where you want to go in your career.

“I’m a CPA now. It was very stressful at first. There were long work hours and long nights studying. You’ve got to pass four exams to get your CPA license. Looking back, it doesn’t seem all that bad compared to some things I went through early in my college years. Those years prepared me to adapt, adjust, sacrifice and work hard.”

As a third baseman, Slemons’ ACL injury occurred during a run-down drill (a.k.a. hot box) between third and home.

“I was running down the kid and caught up to tag him and he kind of tried to do a last-minute move out of the way. As I planted [my foot] and tagged him, I slipped a little bit and felt some popping in there [my left knee]. I never had a serious injury before, but, because it was the first practice, you kind of have the adrenaline going. In retrospect, I definitely tore it right then, but I figured I could just walk it off. I went back in after that and my knee felt kind of loose, but I probably messed it up even more because it buckled again when I went to plant and I knew that, ‘This probably isn’t good.’ “

He didn’t finish the practice and finally went into the training room. An MRI the next day revealed the bad news.

Slemons said that, because Xavier partnered with the Cincinnati Reds, his knee surgery was done by the same orthopedic surgeon who also worked on former Reds star Ken Griffey Jr.’s knee.

During his time at Xavier, Slemons said that a handful of Musketeers were drafted, but none reached the Major Leagues.

“Seth Willoughby [Columbus Bishop Watterson] was a third-round draft pick of the Rockies,” Slemons said. “He was a closer who was the highest draftee during my time at Xavier, but he also had a rough go because he had Tommy John surgery his first year and didn’t get his arm back [to way it was]. He’s done and working in the corporate world now like myself.”

While at Hubbard, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Slemons, the son of Dr. Howard and Audrey Slemons, received highest batting average awards his freshman, sophomore and junior years and was the Eagles’ MVP his senior year. He also earned TAC-8 honors.

In the fall of 2009, while still a senior, Slemons was playing in the Allegheny Pirates’ fall league and got recruited by Xavier through that.

With Allegheny and its roster of premier 17- and 18-year-old players from around northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania, Slemons would play in Raleigh-Durham at the USA Baseball training facility, at George Washington U., at UNC and in Virginia Beach.

“A bunch of college coaches would come every week,” Bo said. “By the end of the fall league, a lot of kids were already picked up, either by colleges or projected to get drafted, either after college or some out of high school.”

Slemons had no idea that Xavier would be a choice.

“I wanted to try to go down South somewhere, like ACC or SEC. Then, at home with my parents one night after a weekend we played, I got a call from, at the time, Xavier’s pitching coach. He talked me through the school and the program on the phone. They had just won an Atlantic-10 Conference championship. Before that, it didn’t even occur to me that they were a baseball school, but I was invited for a visit and loved the campus and the facilities. I was considering a couple other schools, but then it seemed like Xavier was going to be the right fit for me.”

He now works for CS & L CPAs, with offices in Sarasota, Tampa and Bradenton. He travels around Florida 60% of the time.

Back to a reflective Bo.

“My freshman year I was still in the mindset that, ‘I’m going to get through this rehab, get healthy and back to playing again and still have a shot at the majors.’ Then, my sophomore year, when, even though I was healthy, there were other guys on the team who passed me up. I could tell those kids were better than me, that’s why they were playing.

“I was on scholarship and decided to make the most of it. I didn’t want to just get some random degree. Even though baseball was a big part of my life, it was only going to take me so far. I had to think long-term – ‘What could I do with my career?’ That’s how I came to the conclusion to get a degree in accounting.”

Speaking of the hot-box drill, Bo doesn’t mind Florida’s muggy summer weather too much.

“It’s too hot for a lot of people down here now, but I kind of like it,” he said. “There’s fewer people down here now because it’s so hot.”

He’ll be back in Hubbard this month to visit his parents and play a little golf.

Slemons, who lives within walking distance of the Tampa Bay Rays’ Tropicana Field, hasn’t seen a game since moving to St. Pete.

“I went to one when I was down here for a baseball tournament back in high school,” he said. “I think Cleveland comes down in August, so I’m going to try to catch a game then. I am a loyal Tribe fan.”

Just recently, Tampa Bay was given the green light to play a split-season in Montreal. The idea under consideration is for the Rays to play in Tampa Bay early in the season and later in Montreal.

The Rays have played at Tropicana Field since their inception in 1998 and drew their lowest home crowd of 5,786 against Toronto in May.

“They were initially talking about moving to downtown Tampa, but then they couldn’t get the funding for it,” Slemons said. “I don’t see how that half-and-half thing would work out, but I don’t know. It should be interesting to see how that plays out.”