Alumni Spotlight: Rachel Park Hurt '03 G'04
6/3/2026 11:51:00 AM | Block S Club
Rachel Park Hurt
Class of 2003, G' 2004
SoftballÂ
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A second baseman and four-year starter, Rachel Park Hurt, made a name for herself nationally while competing for Syracuse Softball. While elevating herself in her athletic career, she was simultaneously establishing herself in the classroom.
Outside of the competitions, Rachel was locked in and focused in her academics, earning five Big East Academic All-Star honors and nine Athletic Director's Honor Roll selections. Her academic success ran in parallel to her on-field success. By the end of her career at Syracuse, she was tied for the school's all-time hits record with 164 and was ranked among the top five in numerous statistical categories, including batting average (.294), runs scored (74), total bases (211), and RBIs (56).
As with any athletes, playing a sport doesn't come without any adversity. Whether coming from injuries, playing time, difficult coaching, diversity is bound to happen. For Rachel, that adversity showed up when she tore her ACL, not only once, but twice. The two ACL injuries not only halted her softball career but also restricted her from joining the US Air Force after being a part of the US Air Force ROTC at Syracuse.
Season-ending injuries can cause athletes to lose hope and lose interest in academics, their sport, or hobbies. Rachel chose to remain resilient and keep hope alive. Despite the injuries and the setbacks, Rachel continued to push herself forward, continuing to pour deeply into her academic studies and her sport.
Rachel's hard work paid off when she was named the first Syracuse softball player to receive the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. She graduated cum laude with degrees in political science and history, as well as a master's in public administration from Syracuse's Maxwell School in 2004.
After Syracuse, Rachel attended and graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2007, where she was a member of the Tennessee Law Review and Moot Court - Constitutional. She distinguished herself as an Articles Editor for the Tennessee Law Review, a member of multiple journals and moot court teams, and a recipient of awards for excellence in legal writing and Supreme Court decision-making.
Her legal career started with a clerkship for Justice Cornelia A. Clark of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Rachel entered private practice, where she is a highly skilled litigator focusing on insurance defense, medical malpractice, healthcare liability, and regulatory law. She has secured more than 20 favorable appellate decisions along with numerous pre-trial dismissals in both state and federal courts.
Over the years Rachel has been honored with countless professional recognitions and honors including but not limited to, "Best Lawyers – Women in Law" in 2020 and 2022, "Best Lawyers – Lawyer of the Year (Health Care – Knoxville) every year since 2022, and Donald F. Paine Lawyer of the Year Award in 2012, and more.
Syracuse Athletics is honored to call Rachel one of our own. As a Syracuse alumna and a member of the softball team, her legacy lives on today, paving the way for this program's continued success on and off the field. Rachel is an inspiration to student athletes everywhere that adversity and setbacks don't have to define you; it can uplift you and push you to reach new heights.
