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EAGLES’ PRIDE
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2015-2016
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77
Jimmy Raley ’65
A two-sport varsity student-athlete who was later named first-team quarterback
to the STH McDonald/Davis all-time team by STH Sports Hall of Fame coaches
Joe McDonald and Burr Davis.
Raley was also the starting shortstop and senior team captain during consecutive
state baseball titles in 1964-65, earning all-state recognition in 1965. He was
a Colt League world champion in 1964 playing for STH Sports Hall of Fame
Coach Fr. Robert Matzinger, CSB and American Legion state champion in 1965.
Raley accepted a baseball scholarship to Texas A&M where he captained the 1970
Aggies to a 25-9 record, then the winningest season in program history. During
his A&M career, Raley also earned the Wally Moon Award, given to the player
who showed the most improvement from September through the end of the
season.
Raley is the half-brother of fellow inductee Jerry Pizzitola and is currently a vice
president in sales for the Dynarex/Tillotson Corporation.
Brad Smith ’88
A two-sport Eagle standout and pivotal player for the first of consecutive TCIL
state football championships in 1988. Smith was a tenacious all-district, all-state
and All-Greater Houston defensive lineman and equally distinguished in STH
track and field, collecting all-state honors as a senior while winning the state shot
put title and placing second in the discus, establishing school records in each
event.
Smith was a four-year letterman and team captain 1991-92 at Texas Christian
University where he was named second-team All-Southwest Conference in 1992
and completed his career as the program’s third all-time leading tackler. He then
played a portion of the 1993 season with the NFL Cincinnati Bengals and later
with the London Monarchs of the World League of American Football.
Father David ’67 was part of back-to-back STH state football titles in 1965-66.
Smith was a leading sales executive and sales director for nearly two decades at
Southwest Stainless & Alloy and currently with Shale-Inland PVF, headquartered
in Houston, the country’s leading industrial supplier of products used in the
transportation of water, food, energy, and information
to its end users.
Billy Welu ’50
A Hall of Fame and founding member of the Professional Bowling Association
(PBA). Welu won five American Bowling Congress (ABC) titles and remains
one of only three bowlers to capture consecutive ABC Masters championships
(1964-65).
Following his professional career, Welu spent several years as the lead network
analyst alongside legendary broadcaster Chris Schenkel on the highly successful
Saturday afternoon telecasts of the PBA Tour.
Welu was inducted posthumously into the PBA Hall of Fame in 1975, the STH
Hall of Honor in 1976 and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. He died of a
heart attack in 1974 at age 41.
Mark Yokubaitis ’70
A name synonymous with St. Thomas. Mark was an all-district, all-state
and All-American defensive force at linebacker for the 1968-69 TCIL state
champions. He served as team captain his senior season, then accepted a football
scholarship to Louisiana State University where he lettered in 1972 for Hall of
Fame coach Charlie McClendon during the Tigers’ nine-win season, finishing
11th in the final national rankings, capped with the 1972 Astro Bluebonnet Bowl
in the Astrodome against Tennessee.
After earning his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Biomedical
Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, Yokubaitis launched a
three-decade career in January 1981 with General Electric, including Senior Field
Engineer, Engineering Manager, Sales Engineer and Director of GE Marine
Systems and Industrial Services.
Yokubaitis retired from General Electric in December 2012, then joined
Schneider Electric in Tualatin, Oregon, in August 2013, and is currently working
in sales in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.
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The STH Sports Hall of Fame was established by the Alumni
Association in 1998 to commemorate exceptional Eagle athletic
accomplishment while celebrating lifelong excellence consistent with
the Basilian tradition of teaching goodness, discipline and knowledge.
The Class of 2015 joins Tommy Cones ’71, Bill Golibart ’48, Johnny
(Tex) Young ’31 and Bill Dillon ’63 as the most recent inductees,
increasing the overall membership to 48 Eagles.