Friday, July 12, 2019

Part of a regular series.

Throughout the year, GNACsports.com uses this space to profile conference student-athletes, coaches, and administrators. Collectively, it is these individuals who make the GNAC one of the top NCAA Division II athletic conferences in the nation.

Name: George Casper
Institution: University of Alaska Anchorage
Years at Institution: 7 months
Title: Compliance Officer
Hometown: Pocatello, Idaho

Colleges Attended: College of Idaho, University of Southern Mississippi and University of Idaho.

College Major/Degrees: Bachelor’s in business administration at the College of Idaho, sports management master's at Southern Mississippi and juris doctorate from the University of Idaho.

Why Did You Decide To Work In Collegiate Athletics: My father has worked with collegiate athletics most of my life, so I was always around college athletics and have always had an affinity for the job.

Who Has Influenced You The Most As A Professional - Either As An Inspiration, A Mentor, Or Philosophically: My father.

Favorite Part Of Your Job: Working with athletics and helping student-athletes both athletically and academically.

Biggest Obstacle Overcome As A Professional: So far it has been moving to a completely different place after the year has started.

What Does Division II Mean To You: To me, Division II provides the most balanced iteration of the “student-athlete.” No greater emphasis is put on one over the other. In Division II, athletes in all sports are mandated to put forth their best effort.

Extracurricular Activities: Camping, fishing, outdoor activities, spending time with family, playing sports, attending sporting events, reading and watching movies.

Best Advice You’d Give To Student-Athletes: Work as hard as you can in the classroom and find something outside of your sport that you really enjoy doing because everyone plays their last game at some point.

If You Could Spend The Day With One Person (Past Or Present), Who Would It Be (And Why): Benjamin Franklin. It would be fun to pick his brain and he seems like he would be fun to hang out with.

Favorite Sports Team: Pittsburgh Steelers, San Antonio Spurs and University of Texas Longhorns.

Favorite Athletes: Ken Griffey Jr., Michael Jordan, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux and Chipper Jones.

Most Memorable Sports-Related Moment: Winning the Idaho 5A football championship in 2008.