Where Are They Now?

Andy Bessette

Men's Track and Field, 1971-75

Track and field is not a typical team sport. Determination, perseverance and resiliency are not attributes your teammates can instill in you on the field between plays. These qualities come from within one.

When these attributes aligned for Andy Bessette during the summer of 1971, he realized he had the potential to become one of the best hammer throwers not only at the University of Connecticut but in the country.

“Track and field is not a glory sport, the drive for success comes solely from within,” said Bessette. “You try to be better today than you were yesterday.”

Though a musician during his days at Cumberland High School in Rhode Island, Bessette was recruited to many major track and field programs for the hammer throw.

The words of his father and the quality of the UConn coaches were what inspired him to become a Husky.

“My father told me, ‘I know that these coaches are honest and they’ll train you well’.”

Bessette is shown here to the left with the late Bob Kennedy, former UConn track and field coach.

The summer before Bessette came to UConn, he became the first high school  athlete ever to be invited to the Olympic Committee Track and Field throwing camp at Dartmouth.

Following his freshman year at UConn in 1972, he qualified for the United States Junior National Team as a hammer thrower and was part of the first team to ever compete against a Russian Junior Track and Field team.

As a senior at UConn in the spring of 1975, Bessette finished third at the NCAA Championships to earn All-America honors. He set the UConn school record for the hammer throw with a mark of 65.10 meters – 213 feet, seven inches – a mark which still stands today.

“I always tried to throw my best at the biggest meets of the season,” Bessette said while recalling the record.

Following graduation at UConn with a degree in economic geography, Bessette earned a master’s degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1977.

In 1977, through the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Job  Opportunities Program, that helped potential Olympic athletes obtain full time jobs that allowed them to train, Bessette worked in hotel sales for the Sheraton Hotel group for three years.

Bessette spent those three years training for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games, while learning what it was like to be part of a team. Bessette credits much of his achievement to his technical and strength coaches as well as his trainers.

Bessette set the all-time distance record at the Olympic trials for the  hammer throw while finishing first, fulfilling his lifelong dream of  becoming an Olympian.

“The most fulfilling part was throwing my personal best at the Olympic trials,” says Bessette.

As the summer games approached, Bessette remembered something he had said to his mother over 20 years before at the age of seven. While watching the  Summer Olympic games in Rome in 1960 on television, he turned to his mother and said, “I’m going to be in the Olympics someday.”

Just months before the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow were to take place, the athletes were informed that the United States would boycott the games because they were being held in Communist Russia.

Following that disappointing turn of events, Bessette competed in the Freedom Games held in Philadelphia and finished third overall in the hammer throw.

Even though there was a lingering disappointment about not competing in the Olympics, Bessette managed to put a positive spin on his outstanding finish at the Freedom Games. Bessette considers his Olympic Trials victory the pinnacle of his athletic career.

In 1980, Bessette started his career at Travelers Insurance Companies while making one last attempt to make the Olympic team in 1984. He eventually finished as an alternate in the hammer throw at the 1984 Olympic trials.

Between 1980 and 2002, Bessette held a variety of jobs from entry level through the vice president level. In 2002, Bessette left Travelers to become an executive vice president at the St. Paul Co.,which subsequently merged with Travelers forming St. Paul Travelers. He currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of St. Paul Travelers.

Bessette lived in Connecticut most of the time between 1971 and 2002. Since 2002, he and his family have lived in Minnesota. He does make frequent trip to Connecticut for business purposes.

He and his wife, Cherrie, have two children; -- Noelle 17, and Christopher 12. While Noelle is looking at colleges to apply to across the country, Christopher is just beginning to take an interest in the hammer throw. Though too young at 12 to begin any serious training, Bessette looks forward to encouraging Christopher in whatever his aspirations are.

Being a competitive athlete has shaped both Bessette’s personal and professional lives.

“I always tried to push myself, overachieve and have a positive attitude,” says Bessette. “Today, I apply that to my business life."

To be successful in life, one only needs to look at two of Bessette’s key mottos,

“Try to be better today than you were the day before” and  "I've found that results are achieved much more effectively when you work as a team."

-- Curran Kennedy