It’s painful to say this with my seemingly perfect life and all. But here we go.
I want to be like Brent High. There, I said it. Sure, by example, he can make you feel lousy, but oh the work he's doing in the process.
High is an old friend from college. He was in Kansas City about a month ago to make a presentation at Kauffman Stadium about the Royals Christian Family Night, which is Saturday the 23rd.
After the Royals and Tigers play, the post-game festivities Saturday night will feature testimonials from Royals such as Brian Bannister, Trey Hillman and Dayton Moore, mixed in with concerts by Chris Sligh (of 2007 “American Idol” fame) and Natalie Grant, the three-year reigning GMA Female Vocalist of the Year.
And, of course, Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato of Veggie Tales fame will be there.
The backbone of Brent High’s story, along with my now relatively fresh memory after his recent visit, goes something like this.
Brent, who was a few years behind me at Lipscomb University, was a highly praised pitcher coming out of Overton High School in Nashville, Tenn. He had great curveball, combined with a fastball that hit the 90s. He had some “Nuke” LaLoosh in his control. Thankfully, he never hit Lipscomb’s Bison mascot.
Since my collegiate baseball career had been cut short already by a lack of ability, I was the radio play-by-play announcer for baseball.
After his freshman year, Brent heard about an open tryout for the Atlanta Braves. Man, wouldn’t that be something! A chance not only to fulfill nearly every boy’s dream of being watched by a major-league scout, but being watched by a scout from your favorite team.
The Atlanta Braves were
the team for any kid in the South. Even the Braves of the pre-John Schuerholz were beloved by fans from Tennessee to Florida.
At the tryout that day, Brent was very good. His fastball was popping. His curveball was dropping off the table. Even his control was on. So much, in fact, that the main scout had Brent throw extra on the side so he could watch closer. Brent remained good enough that the Braves were going to keep an eye on him throughout his college career.
The following spring, pumped with extra motivation and enthusiasm, Brent had an outstanding season opener for Lipscomb, going the distance with double-digit strikeouts. The next game, during the team’s annual trip to Daytona Beach, Fla., Brent had another strong outing.
Only thing was, against that team out of Illinois, Brent High threw somewhere in the neighborhood of 180-190 pitches. His arm was shot.
In essence, Brent High’s playing career was over. His dreams crushed. Oddly, though, the torn labrum injury turned into a positive, life-altering experience. The injury forced High, who was reared in a strong Christian family, to re-discover his love for the Lord and for baseball.
Ever since that experience more than 15 years ago, Brent has been finding ways to make a difference in people’s lives. He’s been a youth minister, a university’s sports information director (while there he started the school’s first Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter), and he helped launch an Internet company geared toward Christian organizations.
The turning point of his career came while he was working as the Vice-President of Sales for the Nashville Sounds, currently the class-AAA affiliate for the Milwaukee Brewers. Brent started the Sounds’ “Faith Nights,” which included — get this — bobbleheads of Bible characters Moses, Noah and Samson.
“Faith Night” became such a success that media outlets not located in the buckle of the Bible belt featured Brent High and the Sounds. The likes of
USA Today, the
New York Times,
ESPN the Magazine, ABC’s World News Tonight, and ESPN’s Outside the Lines, among so many others, featured the unusual promotion.
Seemingly overnight, Brent High had a new career. He left the Sounds and started Third Coast Sports, a company that works with sports teams to produce faith-based events. The company has worked (or is currently working) with 10 major-league clubs.
Brent High’s ministry, Third Coast’s calling, is to reach people through sports and music. In addition to Saturday’s visitors at Kauffman, Sligh and Grant, the musicians working with Third Coast includes MercyMe, Steven Curtis Chapman and Jeremy Camp.
Additionally, in each city, Third Coast works with churches to make sure a certain number of tickets go to underprivileged kids. That includes Kansas City.
The events hosted by Third Coast have had anywhere from a few thousand fans staying afterwards, to an estimated 30,000 this year in St. Louis.
Say what you want about how the Royals could use some prayers on Christian Family Night. Be that as it may, knowing Brent High and seeing what his company has done in other cities, Saturday night should be a fantastic event.
“We are very excited to work with the Royals,” said High. “We hope to turn this into an annual event.”
For what it’s worth, knowing Brent High is someone with whom you could trust to watch over your autographed Moses bobblehead, that should be exciting news for anyone of faith in Kansas City. And for someone who simply admires Brent.
To order tickets for Christian Family Night, go to royals.com. To contact Matt Fulks or to suggest a “Behind the Stats” topic, visit MattFulks.com.