Alumni Profile: Gary Bining
3/4/2020 1:42:15 PM | Men's Lacrosse
The beginning of any great story always needs a compelling first chapter. In 2002, Gary Bining provided that when he came to Ohio State from Ladner, British Columbia.
A leap of faith at the time, Bining was among the first British Columbia natives to make the trek to Ohio State. In the years that have followed, names that are familiar to all who have followed Ohio State – Logan Schuss, Jesse King, Joel Dalgarno, Johnny Pearson and Tre Leclaire, to name a few – have gone down the same path.
“It was a huge personal decision for me to leave my family and make the move to a different country for undergraduate education and the pursuit of Division I athletics,” said Bining, who was a four-year letterwinner from 2003-06 who played in 27 career games and was a captain in 2006. “I truly consider the Ohio State community to be my extended family. Once you become an Ohio State graduate, the reputation that follows will never leave you.”
As a senior in 2006, Bining had the unfortunate experience of having his season cut short due to injury. At the time, however, the game of the lacrosse wasn’t out of his system. And he went on to have a stellar professional career in the National Lacrosse League after being selected in the first round of the 2006 draft by the Colorado Mammoth and eventually landing with the Boston Blazers.
While his professional career was taking off, Bining also had his eye on another goal. An aspiring doctor, he majored in biology at Ohio State and was connected with doctors who opened his eyes to that career path. He took the MCAT in order to get into medical school, but had put that off until he was done playing lacrosse.
But as he’s done before, Bining decided to blaze a new path. He retired early from the National Lacrosse League and transitioned into medical school at the University of New England College of Medicine in Maine. In 2014, he graduated and moved with his family to Seattle in order to pursue residency training in anesthesiology. Since then, he’s completed additional fellowship training at Harborview Medical Center and subsequently joined Matrix Anesthesia in Bellevue, Washington.
“I consider the day to day grind of being a student-athlete to be the most valuable asset to your preparation for life/career post-college,” said Bining. “The rigorous practice schedule coupled with focusing on academics and balancing time-management with ongoing fatigue prepares you for anything that life will throw at you.”
Last weekend, as Ohio State was going through final preparations for its game vs. Cornell, Bining was back in town with an important message about urgency for the current group of Buckeyes: “Don’t wait until tomorrow, until next week, until next year. The opportunity is today, right now,” he said.
Fourteen years after his final season with the Scarlet and Gray, does Bining have any regrets after taking the chance of a lifetime?
“Graduating from Ohio State as a student-athlete is an honor that one doesn’t appreciate fully until years later. I would not trade my experience for any other,” he said.
