HOUSTON -- These days, Jim Crane is well-known in Central Missouri State University circles as one of the school's top former students.

Crane is chairman and chief executive officer of Eagle Global Logistics, one of the nation's largest shipping companies. The company, publicly traded on NASDAQ, generated gross revenues of $2.2 billion in 2003. He has been generous with his alma mater, which has named the baseball stadium -- Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field -- partially in his honor.

What is not apparent almost 30 years after Crane's graduation is that this is a booster who once possessed a rocket of a right arm.

Crane had a four-year record of 21-8 with a career earned-run average of 2.42. He ranks second in career strikeouts for Central Missouri State ("I would be higher," he joked, "but they play twice as many games these days"), is tied for sixth in career wins, fourth in career ERA and eighth in career innings pitched (216).

And he still holds the Mules' record for strikeouts in a game (18). In that game against Ohio Northern University, Crane earned a spot in Division II baseball history, striking out a record 11 batters in a row during the 1974 College Division World Series.

Without a doubt, Crane's athletics accomplishments rank at or near the top of the nation's corporate CEOs.

While Crane has earned all of his success, he credits a large assist to his college coach, the late Bob Tompkins. After Crane grew weary of school at one point in his career, Tompkins drove across the state to his home in St. Louis to tell Crane that he needed to return to Central Missouri State.

The experience was central to his subsequent success. To this day, Crane said he regards a student-athlete background as a key attribute in a prospective employee.

-- David Pickle