Jim Michalek - 1977

Jim Michalek entered St. Thomas High School as a sophomore in the fall of 1974. Jim started on the junior varsity football, basketball and baseball team and was promoted to the varsity football squad for the TCIL Bi-District game at Rice Stadium. He continued his junior year campaign in all three sports and was named to the TCIL All-District Team and the TCIL All-State Team as a receiver in football and was named to the TCIL All-District Team as a catcher in baseball. In his senior year, Jim was named as a captain on both the football and basketball teams. In football, Jim was honored with TCIL All-District, All-State and was named to the All-Greater Houston Team and was selected to the All-America Team. Later that year, he was selected to the TCIL All-District and All-State Team in baseball. He received numerous scholarship offers in both football and baseball and accepted a baseball scholarship with Rice University.

In 1978, Jim’s freshman campaign, he started every game for Rice University as a catcher/outfielder and was credited with a number of game winning hits, including major Southwest Conference rivals Texas A&M and Texas Tech. Jim was the starting catcher at Rice his sophomore and junior seasons. He was drafted after his junior year by the Toronto Blue Jays.

In 2003, Jim coached his son, Jimmy, and the Richmond Little League 12 year-old All-Stars from Richmond, Texas, to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. The team finished 3rd nationally and one of their games was named the 3rd best game in all of sports (professional or amateur) by ESPN for 2003.