Written by: Lauren Smith, Class of ‘25 Editor-in-Chief

While many PT students have a strong background in competitive sports, most expect to conclude their athletic career upon entrance into this rigorous doctorate program. However, recent DPT graduate Dr. Spenser Dexter (Class of 2023) has proven that it is possible to follow both passions. After playing D1 baseball in undergrad at Eastern Illinois University, he was determined to pursue a professional career while also pursuing his physical therapy education, and managed to do so successfully throughout the three year program.

As a professional pitcher for the Northern Colorado Owls and Trinidad Triggers, Spenser’s off-season routine included regular sport-specific workouts and daily throwing routines to keep his arm strong and equipped to handle the violent motion it must produce come game time. This training often had to happen in the evenings, sometimes well after dark, to accommodate his full course load as a DPT student at Regis. While in season (May-September), a similar training routine is kept with the addition of weekly games that often require several hours of driving to face various opponents. He would sometimes need to leave class early to make game time, not arriving home until after midnight, which left very little time for coursework and sleep before an 8am start the next day. Balancing the demands of his sport with academics, service learning and clinical rotations proved to be a challenge over the last three years, but Spenser managed to succeed in both arenas through disciplined time management and a sincere love for baseball.

His experience as a professional pitcher has driven him to pursue a PT career specializing in throwing athletes. Given his personal history of shoulder, knee and elbow pathologies, he is especially understanding of the stress on the body created by throwing sports, and hopes utilize this unique perspective to connect with patients going through the same rehabilitation. Spenser understands better than anyone the impossible balance of pursuing a sport at a high level while maintaining peak physical health, and aims to apply his expertise in biomechanics and rehabilitation to patient cases similar to his own.

Though Spenser has always felt supported by his family to pursue his dreams, coaches, faculty and loved ones expressed concerns regarding the strain of balancing such demanding careers. Despite this, Spenser went on to graduate with his doctoral degree in May of ‘23, even while he was training for the start of his 2023 baseball season. His dream is to play baseball as long as his body and the sport allows, keeping physical therapy as an off-season side hustle and solid back-up plan to the MLB.

When asked what has motivated him to pursue the highest level in both athletics and academics, Dr. Dexter had this to say: “I always knew I wanted to play baseball professionally and that was always a goal [an absolute]. But when I got hurt, I realized that being able to achieve that is significantly more fragile than I believed it to be, and going through the recovery process made me want to help others achieve the dream I always wanted. I wanted to do it to show people it was possible from a player standpoint and then also bring that experience to the recovery room.”