Lowe's Senior CLASS Award finalist: Cole St. Clair
by Jessie Sims, FOXSports.com
Rice University's closing pitcher Cole St. Clair lives this exact life all while upholding a great attitude. His hard work has recently been recognized by many different people. St. Clair was winner of the 2008 Bob Quin Award, the first baseball player since 1983 to win it. The Bob Quin Award is awarded to the top male student-athlete "who most nearly measures up to the ideals of campus leadership, scholarship, and sportsmanship, as exemplified by Quin," according to the Bob Quin Award website. Brandon Green, defensive end for Seattle Seahawks and Mike Wilks, point guard for Seattle SuperSonics are among the previous winners of this award.
"I was surprised and honored to be named the winner of the Bob Quin award this year," St. Clair said. "There have been many individuals that have received that award and gone on to be quite successful and I am honored to be put in the same class as them."
In addition to the Bob Quin Award, St. Clair is one of the 2008 finalists for the Lowes Senior CLASS award. All of the candidates have been recognized based on personal characteristics that make up an outstanding student-athlete. The four areas of standards are classroom, community, character and competition.
Over St. Clair's college career, he has been actively involved in giving back to the community. When he was on the 2006 United State's National Team, he visited a children's hospital with the team. They walked through different wings of recovering children and spent time getting to know them. The team also ran kids camps at the Devil Ray's facility. Kids from the YMCA came to the camp and St. Clair worked with them on basic baseball fundamentals, like throwing correctly.
In 2007, during the college world series, St. Clair visited the Omaha Home for Boys. This is a non-profit charitable organization whose mission is to support and strengthen youth and families. St. Clair hung out and played basketball with some of the boys.
"It's easy to forget how privileged we all are," St. Clair said. "We kind of get lost in our own world when we get so busy. To give back to people at the other end of the spectrum is important…There is more to life then your own interests."
St. Clair is a native of Santa Ana, California. He started his baseball career at the young age of six-years-old, so he is well-aware of the influence that sports can have on kids. The first team he was on was at the coach-pitch level. He recalls being six and getting told not to sit down in the outfield while picking dandelions.
"I just love playing the game," St. Clair said. "I grew up doing pick-up games on the sidewalk until the sun went down."
Now, all grown-up, St. Clair is at the top of his game. At the beginning of the 2008 season, St. Clair was converted from a closer to a starter. This transition was not meant to be, and he was put back in the bullpen. He is now officially the Owl's closer again and on Tuesday April 22, he got his 2nd save of the season. He also leads the team in wins, with six under his belt.
"My numbers have improved a lot since moving back to the bullpen," St. Clair said. "The move was a mutual agreement between the coaches and me."
With the last month of the baseball season coming up, the college graduate is very eager to pursue baseball as a career.
"I remember as a kid pretending I was hitting in the bottom of the ninth at the World Series." St. Clair said.
The future for this athlete is very bright. Guess it was just always in the cards.
advertisement
