Leader sports editor
Shayne Burgan is rudderless no more.
Not long ago, Burgan, a one-time catcher for the Cabot Panthers, found himself drifting between baseball and whatever comes next. Things weren’t panning out at Williams Baptist College, where Burgan couldn’t find the motivation to make his grades.
But that is no longer the case.
After hitting baseballs for the Panthers and Eagles, Burgan, who graduated in 2008, is set to fire torpedoes for the U.S. Navy. He ships out at the end of this month as a torpedo man on the U.S.S. Seawolf, a first-of-the- line nuclear submarine out of Bremerton, Wash.
For the first time in a few years, Burgan, who will earn his rating as a machinist’s mate weapons, feels his future is set and he has the direction he has sought since he wrapped up his high school career and took a stab at playing for Williams Baptist in Walnut Ridge.
“The military has definitely matured me, I feel,” Burgan said. “I especially feel it when I come home. I’m used to making myself better.”
Burgan hit close to .400 and played catcher as a Cabot junior. He was relegated mostly to designated-hitter duty as a senior to make way for an up-and-coming catcher in 2008, but still performed well enough to get a partial scholarship to Williams Baptist.
Burgan said things were fine when he was on the field, but not so good elsewhere.
“I was very focused on baseball,” Burgan said. “I didn’t have my focus where I needed to be on the books.”
Burgan moved home after a semester and enrolled at Arkansas State-Beebe.
“I hate the fact I had to leave baseball,” said Burgan, a committed St. Louis Cardinals fan. “It was my first true love. I had been playing since I was five years old.”
Burgan fared no better in the classrooms at Beebe, where he completed just three credit hours while also working at Wal-mart, and life seemed even emptier without baseball.
“I sat down and thought to myself, ‘I’ve got to do something,’ ” Burgan said.
Like many young men looking for direction, Burgan began to consider the military. His father, Garland Junior “Smokey” Burgan, had been in the Air Force and one of Shayne’s best friends, former Jacksonville football player Josh Dougherty, had gone into the Navy straight out of high school.
While Little Rock Air Force Base was close by, Burgan rejected the Air Force, and the Army too, because they seemed the easy, obvious choices. To avoid upsetting his mother, Nina, he also passed on the Marines and ruled out the Coast Guard because he wanted to work in a branch under the Department of the Defense.
The Coast Guard was reassigned to the Office of Homeland Security after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.
For Burgan, then, the Navy became the only real choice.
Though admittedly not the greatest when it comes to bookwork, Burgan still posted a high enough score on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery and a separate exam to qualify him for the nuclear program at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Charleston, S.C.
But first he had to spend the better part of fall and winter at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago.
“It snowed literally every day and I absolutely hated it,” Burgan said in a nod to his Arkansas roots.
Burgan left for Charleston on Jan. 3, 2010 and there his old classroom problems surfaced as he washed out of the two-year nuclear program and found himself again in limbo, though this time it was the Navy’s version.
But the military in its wisdom found a new job for Burgan and shipped him to the torpedo school at Groton, Conn. —where it is more snowy than Chicago, Burgan noted — and that is where he has been until the present day.
Torpedo man is something of a naval misnomer, as Burgan also handles weapons ranging from Tomahawk missiles to 9 mm handguns. But the Navy traditionally calls its weapons guys torpedo men.
“We are known as torpedo men because it’s one of the oldest rates in the Navy,” Burgan said.
The Seawolf is so named because it was the first of the Seawolf Class nuclear submarines. Only three were placed into service before the Department of Defense opted for the Virginia class.
The Seawolf will patrol under the Western Pacific Command (WESTPAC) and Burgan, who will help operate eight forward torpedo tubes, is looking forward to ports of call in places like Australia, Japan and Thailand.
Beyond that, there is not much Burgan is allowed to reveal. He can’t talk about specific missions or locations and is sworn to secrecy even after he leaves the Navy.
“It’s called the silent service for a reason,” Burgan said.
Burgan met his girlfriend, medical school student Sierra Barrick, while in Charleston. He has three years on his current contract and she has three years of med school left.
Burgan is leaning toward reenlisting at least once, because that would give him one more year of sea duty and allow him to spend the rest of his stretch on shore and give him more time with Barrick.
In his dark winter uniform, Burgan still looks like he could block a plate or swat a baseball and has filled out some since his high school days. At Cabot, he was a teammate of Sam Bates, who signed with the Arkansas Razorbacks out of junior college last year and was then drafted by the Florida Marlins in June.
Burgan recalled leaving an Arkansas hog call on Bates’ phone when he heard the news of Bates’ college deal.
“It makes me feel great just to know that I even played with him,” Burgan said. “You still have that old brotherhood from playing ball.”
Burgan said he would have liked to try out for the armed forces team based in San Diego, but it would be logistically difficult given his submarine job.
So Burgan, who sold his catcher’s gear on eBay, is looking toward his future on the Seawolf, and maybe down the line with Barrick, and not so much his past on the baseball diamond.
But he will always keep the game close to his heart.
“As soon as I have a son,” Burgan said. “As soon as I have a son, he’s going to have a baseball glove sitting there with him.”
Not long ago, Burgan, a one-time catcher for the Cabot Panthers, found himself drifting between baseball and whatever comes next. Things weren’t panning out at Williams Baptist College, where Burgan couldn’t find the motivation to make his grades.
But that is no longer the case.
After hitting baseballs for the Panthers and Eagles, Burgan, who graduated in 2008, is set to fire torpedoes for the U.S. Navy. He ships out at the end of this month as a torpedo man on the U.S.S. Seawolf, a first-of-the- line nuclear submarine out of Bremerton, Wash.
For the first time in a few years, Burgan, who will earn his rating as a machinist’s mate weapons, feels his future is set and he has the direction he has sought since he wrapped up his high school career and took a stab at playing for Williams Baptist in Walnut Ridge.
“The military has definitely matured me, I feel,” Burgan said. “I especially feel it when I come home. I’m used to making myself better.”
Burgan hit close to .400 and played catcher as a Cabot junior. He was relegated mostly to designated-hitter duty as a senior to make way for an up-and-coming catcher in 2008, but still performed well enough to get a partial scholarship to Williams Baptist.
Burgan said things were fine when he was on the field, but not so good elsewhere.
“I was very focused on baseball,” Burgan said. “I didn’t have my focus where I needed to be on the books.”
Burgan moved home after a semester and enrolled at Arkansas State-Beebe.
“I hate the fact I had to leave baseball,” said Burgan, a committed St. Louis Cardinals fan. “It was my first true love. I had been playing since I was five years old.”
Burgan fared no better in the classrooms at Beebe, where he completed just three credit hours while also working at Wal-mart, and life seemed even emptier without baseball.
“I sat down and thought to myself, ‘I’ve got to do something,’ ” Burgan said.
Like many young men looking for direction, Burgan began to consider the military. His father, Garland Junior “Smokey” Burgan, had been in the Air Force and one of Shayne’s best friends, former Jacksonville football player Josh Dougherty, had gone into the Navy straight out of high school.
While Little Rock Air Force Base was close by, Burgan rejected the Air Force, and the Army too, because they seemed the easy, obvious choices. To avoid upsetting his mother, Nina, he also passed on the Marines and ruled out the Coast Guard because he wanted to work in a branch under the Department of the Defense.
The Coast Guard was reassigned to the Office of Homeland Security after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.
For Burgan, then, the Navy became the only real choice.
Though admittedly not the greatest when it comes to bookwork, Burgan still posted a high enough score on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery and a separate exam to qualify him for the nuclear program at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Charleston, S.C.
But first he had to spend the better part of fall and winter at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago.
“It snowed literally every day and I absolutely hated it,” Burgan said in a nod to his Arkansas roots.
Burgan left for Charleston on Jan. 3, 2010 and there his old classroom problems surfaced as he washed out of the two-year nuclear program and found himself again in limbo, though this time it was the Navy’s version.
But the military in its wisdom found a new job for Burgan and shipped him to the torpedo school at Groton, Conn. —where it is more snowy than Chicago, Burgan noted — and that is where he has been until the present day.
Torpedo man is something of a naval misnomer, as Burgan also handles weapons ranging from Tomahawk missiles to 9 mm handguns. But the Navy traditionally calls its weapons guys torpedo men.
“We are known as torpedo men because it’s one of the oldest rates in the Navy,” Burgan said.
The Seawolf is so named because it was the first of the Seawolf Class nuclear submarines. Only three were placed into service before the Department of Defense opted for the Virginia class.
The Seawolf will patrol under the Western Pacific Command (WESTPAC) and Burgan, who will help operate eight forward torpedo tubes, is looking forward to ports of call in places like Australia, Japan and Thailand.
Beyond that, there is not much Burgan is allowed to reveal. He can’t talk about specific missions or locations and is sworn to secrecy even after he leaves the Navy.
“It’s called the silent service for a reason,” Burgan said.
Burgan met his girlfriend, medical school student Sierra Barrick, while in Charleston. He has three years on his current contract and she has three years of med school left.
Burgan is leaning toward reenlisting at least once, because that would give him one more year of sea duty and allow him to spend the rest of his stretch on shore and give him more time with Barrick.
In his dark winter uniform, Burgan still looks like he could block a plate or swat a baseball and has filled out some since his high school days. At Cabot, he was a teammate of Sam Bates, who signed with the Arkansas Razorbacks out of junior college last year and was then drafted by the Florida Marlins in June.
Burgan recalled leaving an Arkansas hog call on Bates’ phone when he heard the news of Bates’ college deal.
“It makes me feel great just to know that I even played with him,” Burgan said. “You still have that old brotherhood from playing ball.”
Burgan said he would have liked to try out for the armed forces team based in San Diego, but it would be logistically difficult given his submarine job.
So Burgan, who sold his catcher’s gear on eBay, is looking toward his future on the Seawolf, and maybe down the line with Barrick, and not so much his past on the baseball diamond.
But he will always keep the game close to his heart.
“As soon as I have a son,” Burgan said. “As soon as I have a son, he’s going to have a baseball glove sitting there with him.”
