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ST. THOMAS HIGH SCHOOL
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HOUSTON, TX
INSIDE EAGLE ATHLETICS
Biggio MLB Hall of Fame
It was the inevitable result to a
big-league career fueled by an
insatiable drive with equal off-
the-field devotion to family and
faith.
The first home-grown Houston
Astro was voted into the
hallowed National Baseball
Hall of Fame ... just 12 months
removed from tying the record
for the closest rejection in ballot
history.
Craig Biggio reveled in the
supreme satisfaction of the
moment. The rush followed by
reflection.
He then paused in the swirl of
emotions to contact someone
who couldn’t have been further
removed from his two-decade
climb to his sport’s Mount
Everest.
He reached out for a relationship
that didn’t take firm root until
after his Astros retirement
... when he suddenly (if not
stunningly) accepted the head
baseball coaching position at St.
Thomas, where his sons, Conor
‘11 and Cavan ‘13, were already
enrolled.
Biggio knew his much
anticipated induction day
in the historic hamlet of
Cooperstown, New York would
bring more than the treatment
a transcendent athlete hopes
for and deserves ... more than
the authentic applause and
support from fans, his peers and
predecessors, his game.
Biggio knew the third Sunday in
July necessitated a personal favor
the president of St. Thomas
could satisfy.
“Craig is not a thump-you-over-
the-head Catholic,” Fr. Kevin
Storey, CSB said. “But he is a
wear-it-on-my-heart Catholic.
Never embarrassed to discuss
his faith. Always a priority in
his life. In my mind that’s the
way the best Catholics live, by
invitation and by example.
“Craig didn’t want to go to
the local Catholic church for
Sunday Mass because he knew
that would have turned into
spectacle. He wanted a private
setting to make sure he and (his
wife) Patty and the surrounding
family could be comfortable.
I understood completely why
and what he was asking. And it
struck me how easily the Sunday
devotion could have been lost in
the hoopla of a day unlike any
other in his life. It was a honor
to be able to accommodate
the Biggios, especially given all
that they have meant to the St.
Thomas community over the
years.”
Biggio arranged for Fr. Storey
to travel to the enshrinement
weekend on the Astros private
charter with an entourage that
included Hall of Fame strikeout
king Nolan Ryan, his son and
Astros president Reid Ryan, a
host of minority Astro owners
and executives, plus assorted
baseball dignitaries, such as
former Astro players and
managers Phil Garner and Larry
Dierker.
Storey’s fellow St. Thomas
Basilian, Fr. Jim Murphy,
CSB made the drive from
Massachusetts to concelebrate
the Sunday Mass at Biggio’s
hotel, both priests part of a
larger St. Thomas contingent
that included Athletic Director
Mike Netzel and his wife,
Jeanice ... plus Ryan Lousteau,
Sean O’Neill ‘00 and Keith
Page, all of whom were Biggio’s
coaching compadres at STH
with long standing professional
connections to the game, now
making their Cooperstown
pilgrimage with an ever-
swelling pride for the personal
connection with their one-time
Eagle in arms.
“When you’re there on the
ground, it really hits you that
there are only 210 players in
the Hall. An incredibly small
number,” Page said. “And now
Craig is one of them. And I
know him, coached with him,
won championships with him.
Pretty sweet.”
O’Neill enjoyed the luxury of
having the eternal Astro icon as
his assistant coach when heading
the STH freshmen in 2008 and
then served on Biggio’s staff
during the subsequent five-year
run which produced consecutive
TAPPS 5A state titles and
four straight trips to the state
tournament.
O’Neill taught both Conor
and Cavan as a member of
the Science faculty and was
determined to witness Biggio’s
ultimate baseball salute
even though he and and his