Outstanding Alum: Early Career Professional
As an athlete, entertainer, and now a social media sensation, Jackson D. Olson’s star is on the rise. After spending four years as a member of the Hartford Hawks baseball team, Olson is best known today as the third baseman for the Savannah Bananas, a barnstorming exhibition baseball team known for crazy antics and non-stop entertainment.
Olson is a 2020 graduate the University of Hartford, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He received an MBA from Stetson University the following year.
While at UHart, Olson was part of the historic 2018 team that captured the American East Championship for the first time in program history. He was a three-time America East All-Academic Team member, earned America East Commissioner's Honor Roll accolades, was named an America East Presidential Scholar-Athlete, and was selected as the 2020 America East Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In addition to these achievements, he was a member of the Barney Leadership Council, the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, and Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honor Society.
After a strong junior year playing at the University of Hartford, Olson played a season in the Cape Cod League for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks. His success there led to the Arizona Diamondbacks offering him a free agent contract, which he eventually turned down. Instead, Olson played his senior year back at the University of Hartford before heading down to Stetson to pursue his graduate degree.
Olson soon began creating content across multiple platforms including TikTok and Instagram, which eventually led to an offer to join Major League Baseball’s first-ever Creator Class in 2021. Building on this experience, he later joined Gametime in a role that sent him across the country to rank baseball stadiums and post videos. In the summer of 2022, Olson created a video about the Savannah Bananas, which prompted the team’s owner to reach out and ask him if he was interested in creating content and playing third base for the team.
Olson currently resides in Savannah, where the Bananas are based, traveling far and wide as part of “the greatest show in sports.” He has 1.5 million followers on TikTok and 409,000 on Instagram.