Jesse Williamson was born with a love for sports: he’s the son of an Olympic athlete and spent most of his childhood summers at the beach and out in the ocean, sometimes riding along on his aunt’s longboard. During his time at Montclair High School, Jesse joined the Mounties’ football and baseball teams, playing as a wide receiver and pitcher/shortstop, respectively.
After playing football for the Mounties as a sophomore, Jesse decided to respectfully retire from football in his junior year and focus his athletic abilities on baseball after watching a classmate excel in his wide receiver position during summer training. That classmate was David Tyree, who went on to become an infamous NFL player, widely known for his “helmet catch” which was a key play in the Giants Super Bowl XLII victory.
Throughout the remainder of high school, Jesse focused his attention on his high school baseball team where he was primarily featured as a pitcher. A once notorious baseball dynasty that played exhibitions with the local college programs, Montclair baseball’s fortunes dwindled in the 1970s and continued to do so throughout the next few decades. However, Jesse and his teammates were able to revive the team’s status as a contending program and in 1995 he and his senior classmates led the squad all the way to the state semifinals.
These days Jesse prefers to participate in America’s favorite pastime from the stands, as an avid New York Mets fan who was originally inspired the Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez, and the rest of the 1986 World Series winners. Mets fandom is a familiy tradition – Metropolitans mascot Mr. Met was in fact an honored guest at his cousin April’s wedding. When Jesse isn’t frequenting Citi Field, you can find him and his fiancee at hockey games, as they’re both die-hard New York Rangers fans.
However, Jesse’s true love is basketball. Both a fanatic for pick-up games with friends and the New York Knicks, he loves watching, playing, analyzing and commenting on the sport. Since his days as a high school athlete, Jesse has gone on to become a leading expert in the finance industry, and a graduate of Fordham University’s Deming Scholars honors program with dual MBAs in Finance and Management Systems.
The Deming program’s unique focus on a multitude of studies provided Jesse with a deep and diverse knowledge base, which he has continued to build on through experience spanning from private equity to mergers and acquisitions. He enjoys applying it to the sports industry whenever possible, either informally or formally, having previously served as a consultant to Major League Baseball’s legal department working on trademark, patent infringement and other research initiatives. Investments, trades, long-term structured contracts, financial planning and statistics are all fascinating and relevant to the skills Jesse has developed in his career.
After realizing an ongoing email chain commenting on sports, athletes, and sports finance with his best friends was a hub of fresh, funny, and thoughtful content, Jesse and his friends decided to launch a blog called Thoughts On Last Night’s Game, which will also have a music and culture spinoff. Stay tuned, it will be going live soon!
