Profile: Cal Hooley

Profile: Cal Hooley

Cal Hooley was a 19-year-old high school graduate living in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Working as a bartender at the local pub, while playing his passion, baseball.

Cal now lives 8,000 miles away from home here in Albany, as a starting pitcher for the LBCC Road Runners.

Hooley decided to he wanted to travel to follow his dream of professional baseball, “After moving to southern Australia to play baseball for two years, livin’ two thousand miles from home, I got a passion for traveling for baseball.” Since moving out of his parents at age 16, Hooley has spent a total of eight months actually living in his home territory. “It became more than going places to play, it started being about meeting new people, and experiencing new places.” After four years of traveling, it became obvious that there was one place he needed to go, “America was an easy choice, the main hub for baseball in the world, I figured I’d have the best opportunity here to take advantage of coaching and play in the major leagues.”

After playing in Guam for a little over a month, Hooley’s coach asked him to come play for the team in the U.S., in Kansas. Three months before he was planning to be in Kansas, the coach changed teams and states. “After talking to another coach I’ve known my whole life, he said that Linn Benton had a good program, and would be a good way to get my feet wet with American baseball.” Hooley made it to the U.S. for his first stay in Fall of 2011.

Being an exchange student, and an athlete presented its challenges. “The scariest part was crossing the street, you blokes drive on the wrong side of the street!” (Laughs) “My financial situation was always a concern, not being able to work on my visa makes it hard.” With no financial aid available, Hooley pays his own way with money he saved from working back home. Finances weren’t the only concern, “I always have to be full time, and obviously pass all my classes.” With 14 credit hours, and an additional 25 hours of baseball a week, his schedule is a busy one. “I’ve invested a lot being here, there’s a lot of pressure to do good,” he says. Beyond wanting to make his parents proud, Hooley wants to both succeed in school with his degree in biological science, and his dreams of professional baseball.

Hooley is a starting pitcher for the LBCC baseball team, it seems all his hard work and dedication has paid off. His visa expires in summer of this year, but he has plans in place when moving back home, "I'm going to try out for the Australia Professional League when I get home, there's a good chance I'll make it in." 

“It’s definitely been an interesting experience, not nearly as many of you wear cowboy hats as I thought.” Hooley leaves for Australia in June of this year, after two years in the U.S. Hooley plans to come at some point. “If I could do it over again, I would have saved up some more money, it’s expensive over here.” Hooley’s happy with experience here, “I’ve met a lot of new people, and made a lot of new really good friends, the whole experience has just been pretty ******* awesome!”

At A Glance:
Cal Hooley
Age: 22
Hometown: Darwin, Australia
Position: Pitcher
Goals: To play in the Australian Professional League
Area of Study: Biological Sciences
LBCC Baseball
Australia Professional League

Photo Credit: Unknown