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WARRENSBURG, Mo. — How does the owner of a major league team spend the hours before a big game?  If you’re Jim Crane, owner of the Houston Astros, you go to Warrensburg. Crane graduated from the University of Central Missouri where he was a baseball star.  He’s never forgotten UCM or what he learned there about baseball and life.

On the day of a huge game for his Astros, Crane asked about another team.

“You got ’em playing already?” he asked Kyle Crookes, UCM’s baseball coach.

The front of the coach’s hoodie says “Always Mules,” and that pretty much describes Crane.  He’s been a Mule for more than 40 years. Crane pitched for the Mules from 1973 to 1976, even striking out 18 batters in one big game.  That is still a school record.

“Some of those guys I played with said it was a night game and we didn’t have any lights,” said Crane, laughing.

That, and so much more in Crane’s life, might not have happened without his coach, Robert Tompkins.

“My dad passed away after my freshman year, and I was contemplating not going back to school.  He heard about it and he drove all the way to St. Louis to say, ‘You’re comin’ back to school.’ He was just a guy that cared about people. From that, you learn a lot and learn how to handle people and treat people like you want to be treated,” said Crane.

The guy in the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity photo earned a degree in industrial safety from UCM.  Within a decade, he started Eagle USA Airfreight in Houston, growing it from one employee to 10,000.  He often hired former college athletes.

“Maybe they didn’t have the best grades or they didn’t come out of the best school, but if they played a college sport, you knew the work that went into that and how much energy it took,” said Crane.

In 2011, Crane became owner of the Astros, building what he says was the worst team in baseball into a contender.

“I know enough about baseball to be dangerous, so I just feel responsible to do a good job,” he said.

He also feels responsible to UCM. Crane gives annually for baseball scholarships and was the primary donor for the baseball stadium.

“Always a Mule. Back the Mules, always a Mule,” said Crane.

And always, his name will be next to his beloved coach’s. The stadium is named for Crane, and the field is named for Tompkins.