Rising Through the Ranks and Rounding the Bases

CALL IT INTUITION, INSTINCT, AN INNER VOICE. Great athletes have it. A natural feel for the game that brings with it a calm and quiet confidence, intangible qualities that make them great competitors.

Admittedly, Ryan Simon ‘11 learned early, when he couldn’t connect with a curveball as a high schooler at Father Judge, that he didn’t necessarily have the fundamentals in his athletic arsenal to fulfill a childhood dream of being a baseball player. But there was no denying that Simon had that instinctive inner voice and was sure of his destiny to make a living in professional sports. So, when a Philadelphia Phantoms’ representative appeared in his class in junior year, Simon had an aha moment. 

Ironically, the career path of Ryan Simon, now manager of ticket services for the Philadelphia Phillies, can be likened to that of a minor league player gunning for the Big Leagues. Following his family to Holy Family University - his mother and three older siblings are all proud alums –(“We joke that we ARE the Holy Family.”) was also instinctive, especially since the school offered a sports management degree. Simon capitalized on the small class size and embarked on the “long and winding road to a full-time job in professional sports.” 

Following a work-study position in the HFU athletic office, he used a Holy Family internship to gain entry to the Well Fargo Center for a five-month marketing stint. From there he moved to Comcast-Spectacor as the iconic Spectrum was closing its doors. 

Then it was onto the Phillies for a nine-month turn as a premium services host, then a season and group sales representative, then a merchandising representative. Following a brief stint away from the organization for two years, Simon returned full-time as the gameday staff supervisor, spent three years as the coordinator of ticket services and assumed his current role in February 2019.

Simon used his own farm system to make connections and network. He took on every duty that was assigned to him as he moved through the ranks, interesting tasks like operating a forklift to cold-calling to managing in-game promotions. He has come full circle and now oversees the internship program that first gave him entry into his dream job.

“There are thousands of college graduates every year who want to work in sports,” Simon said. “I am living proof that you can do anything you want with a Holy Family degree, you can live your dream, if you are passionate and willing to put in the work. You need to be professionally persistent and resilient. You need to have an understanding that there is a lot of loss involved in sports. I tell students to identify people in the industry and area that you are interested in, and message them. Get out of your comfort zone and go to a career fair and just listen. Treat your job search as an educational experience, because you are going to learn something. Every experience is something that you can add to your resume until you are not only qualified but are doing the job that Holy Family prepared you so well to do.”

If, as baseball enthusiasts are quick to point out, you are a Hall of Famer if you succeed 30 percent of the time, Ryan Simon’s stats certainly qualify him as, at very least, an all-star. Along with his trophy family – his wife, Carolyn, and their beautiful four-year-old identical twins, Allison and Madison – Simon has been the recipient of “unreal” routine paychecks embossed with the Phillies’ logo and a priceless 2022 National League Championship ring. Quite a reward for a boy who lived his young life on Frankford Avenue, dreamed of a job with his hometown team, kept his eye on the prize, and carried his Holy Family community in his heart as he rounded the bases.