Alumni Spotlight: Troy Daring Jr.

When most people think of the Ontario Blue Jays, people think of the on-field successes of players and forget about their lives outside the field.  Today we’re going to begin to talk about the successes of our players both on and off the field in our OBJ Alumni Spotlight.

Outfielder Troy Daring Jr. began his OBJ Career in 2013 after coming to the Blue Jays from the Canadian National Champion, Brampton Royals coached by Kyle MacKinnon.  Daring Jr. immediately excelled in the program, joining OBJ Travers in what would turn out to be another year to remember as the team went on to win the AABC Mickey Mantle World Series in McKinney, Texas.  The 2013 OBJ Travers team will go down in OBJ History as one of the best teams of all time after recording one of the biggest tournament wins in recent history.  In following years, Daring Jr. continued to improve on the field while he completed his high school diploma at Heart Lake Secondary School before graduating OBJ after signing his National Letter of Intent to attend New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs, New Mexico.

His collegiate career lasted four years while attending three schools including New Mexico Junior College, Johnson County Community College (Overland Park, KS) and Wayne State University (Detroit, MI).  Daring Jr. finishes his collegiate career with 117 Career Games, 58 Runs, 83 Hits, 19 Doubles, 3 Triples, 12 Home Runs, 53 RBIs, a .265 Average and .355 OB%.

When he wasn’t competing on the field with his teammates he was making a huge impact off the field.  This year he was awarded the Troy Berry Award by the GLIAC which goes to the baseball player who combines outstanding character and leadership on the field, in the classroom, and in the community.  During his time at Wayne State University he spearheaded the baseball program’s community service and outreach efforts. WSU baseball has donated over 800 community service hours during the 2018-19 school year, including assisting with the WSU Active Attacker Drill, Hashtag Lunchbag, Basic Needs Drive, Soles for Souls Shoe Drive and the Detroit Lions 50/50 Raffle at Ford Field, which helped raise over $275,000 for the Henry Ford Health System Cancer treatment.  The Warriors have nearly 10,000 hours of community service in the last seven seasons.  He has been a key part of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and the Student Leadership Council.  Daring Jr. also has spent three semesters on the AD or Coaches Honor Roll.

Just when you thought Troy could not be more involved off the field, in 2018 he created his very own clothing line called UERÓN AUTHR.  Troy describes his company as: “The Toronto based street wear fashion and lifestyle brand UERÓN AUTHR was launched to inspire those to take control to take control of their own story instead of succumbing to the strain.  Heavily influenced by life experience, a unique world view, along with pop and world culture, the minimalistic ready-to-wear styling of UERÓN AUTHR brings life to conceptual actuality.  UER LIFE, UER STORY, UERÓN AUTHR.”

This past week Troy Daring Jr. graduated from Wayne State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and will not doubt continue his community outreach throughout his life.  Congratulations to Troy on an incredible collegiate career both on the baseball field and off it.