Feb. 19, 2008
Andy Zurcher
Men’s Tennis 1990-94
Residence:
Englewood, Colorado
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Family:
Wife – Anne Robinson Zurcher
Daughter – Coryn Elizabeth Zurcher – Sept ’02
Daughter – Sydney Anne Zurcher – Dec ’03
Son – Trey Robinson Zurcher – April ’06
Player to be named later – expected in May ’08
Hometown:
Parker, CO
Current Position:
Senior Vice President at ServiceMagic.com
ND Background in Academics:
Bachelor of Arts, Economics, Magna cum Laude (’93)
Master of Business Administration, Magna cum Laude (’97)
CoSIDA Academic All-America (’94)
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ND Background in Athletics:
Four-Year Letter Winner (’90-’94)
ITA All-American (’94)
NCAA Team Finalist, Tennis (’92)
Two-time captain of Men’s Tennis Team (’93 & ’94)
Byron V. Kanaley Award Recipient (’93)
Dan Magill Award Recipient (’94)
Notre Dame Monogram Club Most Valuable Player (’93-94)
Midwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year (’97)
Notre Dame Monogram Club Most Valuable Player (’93-94)
Notre Dame Club or St. Joseph Valley Knute Rockne Student-Athlete Award (’92-93, ’89-90)
Raul Tommy Katthain Award (’92-93)
Olen Parks Award (’90-91)
Professional Background:
Samsonite Corporation (Denver, CO), July 1997-July 1999; ServiceMagic, Inc. (Golden, CO), Product Manager: August 1999-February 2000, Director, Product & Partnership Management: February-September 2000, Vice President, Product Management: September 2000-September 2005, Vice President, Product Management, Public Relations & Professional Marketing: September 2005-November 2006, Senior Vice President, Product Management: November 2006-prresent.
What is your most memorable ND experience?
That’s almost an impossible question, but if pressed, I would probably point to the tennis team’s run in the 1992 NCAA Tournament. We upset back-to-back-to-back teams (including the defending national champions and #1 ranked USC) to reach the finals. There are not many times a group of best friends get the opportunity to pull together to face a great challenge, and over achieve in the way we did.
Was there anything specific to ND that helped you advance your career?
I wonder if there was anything about Notre Dame that didn’t help me advance in my career. From the people I met (coaches, professors, friends) to the education I received to the places I saw as part of the tennis team, there is nothing I have done in my career that isn’t a direct result of that. Notre Dame provided tremendous opportunities, academically and athletically, and also provided the guidance and preparation that enabled me to achieve many of my goals.
Please list noteworthy community or other activities of which you are involved:
I wish I had more time to do more, but currently I’m the treasurer of the Hunger Task Force at my church, a group that provides food and support to various non-profit organizations in the Denver community. I sit on the board of a local non-profit that my company is starting (The ServiceMagic School Makeover Foundation), and I coach both of my daughter’s youth soccer teams. What was your most notable accomplishment or greatest thrill as an athlete?
Again, it would be the 1992 run to the NCAA finals.
What are your favorite things to do when you get back to Notre Dame?
Nothing really compares to just catching up with old friends, teammates and coaches…most likely over a CJ’s burger or a big beer at Macri’s. We’re all very busy now with our lives, and spread across the country, but when we get together it’s as though we haven’t missed a beat.
What professional sports team do you root for these days?
All of the Colorado sports teams — The Broncos, Rockies, Avalanche and Nuggets.
What was the best sporting event you have ever attended?
Tough question…but I’d have to give the nod to Super Bowl XXXII when the Broncos beat the Packers to give Elway and the Broncos their first championship.
Currently, what is your favorite book?
Tough to pick a favorite, so I’ll list 3 that I’ve always loved: The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand), The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay), and for any golf lovers looking for a laugh and a quick read, Missing Links (Rick Reilly).
What are you most motivated by?
My family and my kids…creating as much opportunity as possible for them.
What is the best piece of advice you have received lately?
Not recent, but this is a longtime favorite quote from Theodore Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
— ND —