Bramlett Pursues Dream, Scores Exciting Career at Beloved Alma Mater

By Jacob Meyers

IMC Student

Brady Bramlett started playing baseball at the young age of seven and dreamed early on of going to Ole Miss and becoming a pitcher in the SEC.

And that he did.

Bramlett became a pitcher at the University of Mississippi his freshman year, pitching in 2013 and continuing into 2016. Unfortunately he missed the 2014 season due to injury.

“I went to an awesome high school in the Memphis area, Arlington High School, and had fantastic coaches. But I grew up around Ole Miss because my mother’s family is from Bruce, Mississippi,” Bramlett said. “I grew up knowing I wanted to play SEC baseball and pitch in the SEC, so I committed super early as a sophomore in high school.”

Thanks to his performance while at Ole Miss, Bramlett was drafted by both the Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox.

Although initially following through with the Red Sox and going through the entire physical assessment and training process, he chose to instead return to Ole Miss for his senior season of baseball and to further his education.

“I came back to Ole Miss to get my Masters in IMC. I worked in the athletics department for three and a half years and now I’m over in the academic side of things doing the fundraising development and serving for the Honors College,” Bramlett said.

While bittersweet, Bramlett is happy with his decision to forgo Major League Baseball and give back to the University.

“I don’t regret it at all. I’ve loved my time playing and I am both very satisfied and content with my experience and my time and I was just ready to challenge myself in new areas outside of baseball,” Bramlett said.

His favorite memory of his time pitching at Ole Miss is ironically connected to when he was unable to play with his team in the College World Series due to a torn labrum in his pitching arm.

“I was able to be a part of that with our team and in 2014 went to the College World Series the year I was injured,” Bramlett said. “Obviously, I wasn’t there for that part of it, but what sticks out to me was coming back that next season from surgery, and then my final season, being that Friday pitcher and just being surrounded by teammates who saw me go through the process and how hard it was for me.”

Bramlett now works at the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College serving as the Associate Director of Development.

“I wanted to go into higher education in general, because during my time as a student-athlete, I was a part of the Division One National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee,” Bramlett said.

Not only was Bramlett involved in the NSAAC, but he said he was fortunate enough to be chairman of the group as well. He credits this with being able to learn more about what goes on with college athletics, and this inspired him to take to his current position at the University.

“I got to see a glimpse behind the curtain of college athletics and I got to really learn a lot and that is what I fell in love with. It was the administration aspect of college athletics, but not just college athletics, higher education,” Bramlett said.

Bramlett credits the advice of former athletics director Ross Bjork with encouraging him to get his Master’s degree and start working in athletics where he eventually found his place at the Honors College.

“[Bjork] motivated me to go in the direction of development and fundraising because that’s what he went through,” Bramlett said. “There are such great skills in fundraising development that you can only get in that industry, so I went through college on the athletic side of things and then in 2019 I jumped to academic fundraising.”

From high school as a Louisville Slugger All-American Athlete, to becoming a starting pitcher for the Rebels and even having multiple offers from Major League teams, Bramlett continues to leave his mark on the university even years after his time playing baseball.