Scott Lonergan ´07, a former pitcher for Rice University, has transitioned from his professional baseball career into a fruitful career as a co-founder of Phantom Weights as well as a sports agent.
Lonergan came to Rice in the fall of 2005 and left in the spring of 2007 when he was drafted by the Boston Red Sox. After three years of professional pitching in America as well as in Germany, Lonergan switched focus and found passion in the business side of sports.
“We identified a need for improvement in regards to the current training methods of baseball players,” Lonergan said. “So weighted compression sleeves were born.”
Together with Ryan Tacker, a former collegiate teammate of Lonergan, the duo invented and patented Phantom Weights. The half-pound-weighing-sleeves are innovative training and rehabilitation products for athletes where you strategically position the sleeves on arms or legs to safely add resistance to the athlete’s throwing/swinging/running/jumping motions. This gives the athlete ability to strengthen the exact muscle groups used in game situations without foregoing the mechanics of the movement.
“I am thankful for Rice University’s Sport Management major where internships are a part of the curriculum,” Lonergan said. “Those internships opened up many doors for me.”
Through the Department of Sport Management at Rice University, Lonergan managed to secure an internship with Select Sports Groups, a sports agency where he excelled remarkably.
Today, Lonergan works 90% of his time as a MLBPA Certified Agent with Ballangee Group and 10% of his time as Chief Business Development Officer with Phantom Weights. He currently resides in Dallas, TX with his wife and his son.
Adam Gustafsson, a senior from Sweden, is majoring in Sport Management and minoring in Business.