Andrew Hauser

A car accident took Andrew Hauser’s leg below the knee, but it didn’t rob him of his big league baseball dreams.

“I have a timeline in my head that I want to get to the big leagues, the major leagues,” the Kansas University senior said. “That’s the ultimate goal.”

It’s a goal that led him to an early departure from Kansas University, where he’ll earn a bachelor’s degree in athletic training this month.

When other graduates descend Campanile Hill, Hauser will be in Florida where he works as strength and conditioning coach and assistant athletic trainer for the Clearwater Threshers, a Philadelphia Phillies Class A affiliate.

Hauser made the rare move of spending his final semester of college holding down a full-time job hundreds of miles away.

“That is unique for our program especially,” David Carr, director of KU’s athletic training education program, said of Hauser’s path.

Carr said when students receive such opportunities, faculty want to try to make it work for them.

Hauser, a Stilwell native, played baseball in high school and harbored hopes of playing in college and beyond.

But after graduation, Hauser was driving home when he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed. He lost his left leg beneath the knee.

It would be months before Hauser could walk again and at least a year before he tried to run.

“I was just happy to be alive at the time,” he said.

His mother, Cindy Hauser, said her son faced his newfound obstacles without self-pity.

“He just persevered,” she said. “It was like he had no other thought than to go forward.”

After a semester at Johnson County Community College, Hauser headed to KU. There he found a new way to get to the major leagues. He turned to athletic training.

In the summer following his junior year, he had an internship with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He didn’t squander the opportunity.

“I just learned as much as I could and picked the brains of the people I was working under to learn as much as I could,” Hauser said.

He made connections and won a scholarship. When he returned to Lawrence, he began applying for jobs, initially expecting to begin work following graduation. But discussions with one potential employer, the Boston Red Sox, pushed him to consider starting work sooner, he said. He approached his department at KU. He learned that, with work, it could happen.

Hauser accepted his current job. He took one of three remaining courses in the weeks before he left for spring training. The others he completed online with the cooperation of his professors.

“I knew this is what I wanted to go into,” he said. “I worked it out with my teachers, and here I am.”

Hauser now works 90 hours per week, traveling with a team that plays half of its 140 games on the road. It’s a hectic schedule.

“I love baseball,” he said. “I love all the camaraderie of the guys. I just like helping guys get better.”