FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Steelers Baseball Club out of Trophy Club, Tex., was handed the unenviable assignment of playing in the 8 a.m. time slot Friday at the 16u PG BCS Finals. Games scheduled at 8 o’clock in the morning aren’t loads of fun for anyone – players, coaches, parents – but Steelers Baseball founder/general manager/head coach Tommy Maddox expects his guys to be ready to play at all times.
Simply put, the Steelers weren’t ready to play Friday morning and Maddox was miffed. They got one-hit in an 8-0, five-inning loss to Chain Stealth out of Warner Robins, Ga., and as out of sync as they looked, they might have been called fortunate to collect that one hit. The loss came on the heels of a 9-2 victory over MPi from Miami in their 16u PG BCS Finals opener on Thursday, less than 24 hours earlier.
Maddox is nothing if not a competitor. He was a collegiate all-American quarterback who went on to man that position in 92 NFL games between 1992 and 2005; he didn’t reach that level by accepting lackadaisical efforts.
So, after he spent about 5 minutes telling his players in a stern voice how important it is to always be up for the task at hand, he told them to enjoy the rest of their day, he put on a wide smile and then told PG just how much he loves what he’s doing with these young Texas ball players he has over here for the next week.
“My goal is to get them ready for high school and for them to have a great high school experience,” Maddox said. “The guys that are going to go on and play – a lot of that’s up to them and how hard they want to work – I’m going to give them the opportunity to play in front of scouts and things like that.
“But I want them to be ready to have a great high school career and enjoy that time in their life. This is an exciting time (for them) it’s fun to be a part of that, especially with my son going through it too.”
Maddox founded the Steelers Baseball Club in 2011 with one team, the 16u group here this week. The Steelers’ organization has since grown to four teams: 11u, 12u, 14u and 16u. Quite a few of the guys on this team have played together since they were 7 or 8 years old and will continue to be teammates right on up through their high school seasons.
The makeup of the roster is unique, especially at a PG national championship event like the 16u PG BCS Finals, which attracts powerhouse travel ball all-star teams. Ten of the 13 Steelers Baseball Club players attend Byron Nelson High School in Trophy Club, Tex., and six – including Tommy Maddox’s son, Colby Maddox – call Trophy Club home (Trophy Club is about miles north of Fort Worth). The others players come from the Texas towns of Roanoke, Fort Worth, Flower Mound, Grand Prairie, Keller, Newark and Azle.
Colby Maddox, a 2017 right-handed pitcher, and 2017 outfielder Jacob Frisbie from Keller who also attends BNHS, are the top prospects on the team; PG has them ranked in the top-550 in the national 2017 class. Colby Maddox pitched four innings of two-hit ball without allowing an earned run in Thursday’s win over MPi.
Catcher/shortstop Kevin Banks from Grand Prairie, catcher Eli Rusche from Roanoke – both incoming juniors at BNHS in the fall – and first baseman/right-hander Jacob Rogan from Flower Mound (he will be a junior at Flower Mound HS) are among the Steelers’ many other top players.
Byron Nelson High School opened its doors in 2009 and has already established a pretty solid baseball program. This year’s Bobcats team finished 26-8 after a loss in an early Texas Class 6A Region I District 5 playoff game; very few of these Steelers’ players saw playing time on the varsity in the spring.
(Note: The school is named for the legendary professional golfer Byron Nelson, who grew up in nearby Roanoke. Not surprisingly, BNHS has two strong golf programs, with the girls winning a Texas Class 4A state championship in 2013).
As a coach, Tommy Maddox appreciates that his players have spent so much time together while growing up and will continue to do so for years to come.
“They know how to push each other, they know how to get on each other and support each other,” he said. “I think it’s a huge benefit for them to really know who they’re playing with and what to expect from the guy next to them. … Playing together for as long as they have benefits them a lot.”
There are those who might describe Tommy Maddox’s football career as star-crossed, but careful examination reveals a lot more “star” than “crossed”. Born in Shreveport, La., but raised in Hurst, Tex., Maddox was a three-sport standout, excelling at football, basketball and baseball at L.D. Bell High School in Hurst.
A right-handed pitcher and outfielder, Maddox was a baseball draft prospect coming out of high school but had signed a football letter-of-intent with UCLA and reluctantly took himself out of consideration for the 1990 MLB First-Year Player Draft.
“The (Texas) Rangers called me on draft day and asked me if I was going to UCLA to play football, and I said yes,” Maddox said. “I missed (baseball) and when I went to UCLA I actually was going to play on their baseball team, too, but then (UCLA head football coach Terry) Donahue told me I couldn’t. Once I became the starting quarterback he nixed that in a hurry.”
He enjoyed a stellar two-year career at UCLA, earning all-American recognition in 1991, and declared for the 1992 NFL Draft after his sophomore year. The Denver Broncos selected him with the No. 25 overall pick of the first-round, and announced he would be the successor to the great John Elway. It was a pick that many – including Elway – found puzzling because Elway was in his prime in 1992 and wouldn’t retire for another seven years.
Maddox played sparingly for the Broncos in 1992-93, and again with the Los Angeles Rams in 1994 and the New York Giants in 1995. The Atlanta Falcons released him after training camp in 1996 and he was out of football entirely from 1997-99. He eventually returned to play one season (2000) in the Arena Football League and one season (2001) in the upstart XFL.
The Pittsburgh Steelers signed him as a backup to Kordell Stewart in 2002 and the next four years became the most productive of Maddox’s professional career. He went 7-3-1 after replacing Stewart as the Steelers’ starting quarterback at the end of the 2002 season and was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. He lasted three more seasons in Pittsburgh before finally being replaced by Ben Roethlisberger; Maddox was 15-20-1 in 36 starts as an NFL quarterback.
With so much football in his background, the obvious question to ask Maddox is “Why baseball?” Why not get involved with youth football or youth golf – he is a scratch handicap golfer – or something along those lines? He still gives quarterback lessons to youngsters, but interestingly enough there is a very quick answer to that “Why baseball?” question.
“It’s what I loved the most growing up while I was playing but when it came down to having to make a decision after high school as to which sport to play, I really felt like football was my best chance,” he said. “Baseball has always been my first love – it’s what I love coaching and watching – and it’s my son’s favorite sport. So this has just kind of evolved and happened that way.”
Because of his experiences as an athlete who has performed at the highest collegiate and professional levels, it is Maddox’s hope he can convey to these teenagers some of the challenges they will face moving forward.
“I’ve got some insight into what they’re going through,” he said. “I tell them all the time that there is nothing in sports that will ever happen to them that I haven’t gone through – good or bad – and you’re able to share those experiences with them.”
What Maddox mostly wants to impress upon these young men is the need to – as their grandparents might say – take time to stop and smell the roses. He talks to them about enjoying their youth and not getting all wrapped up in the demands that will be thrust upon them soon enough when they reach young adulthood. Soak these good times up, he tells them, because it’s the most fun they’ll ever have.
“This is the last time that (sports are) not a job, even in college,” he said. “You’re just playing because you love the game and you’re working at it because you love it. Once you get to the next levels … it’s a different animal.”
Several of the Steelers Baseball players here this week gained experience playing in a PG tournament environment at last year’s PG Super25 16u Texas Championship in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. This is, however, their first taste of playing at the PG national championship level, and Maddox hopes they will learn from it.
He firmly believes facing the toughest competition is the most beneficial thing an athlete can do. When a young ball player is put in a position where he’s competing against another young ball player who might be a notch or two higher on the prospect ladder, it will only make the former push himself all that much harder. And the teams at the 16u PG BCS Finals are filled with top prospects who always seem to be a notch or two higher on the ladder.
“It’s very important to always keep playing against high competition like that,” Maddox said. “That’s what’s great about this tournament – you come in knowing you’re going to be playing against teams like that. This is the best of the best.”
The only benefit of having played in the 8 a.m. time slot Friday was the Steelers players found themselves with an entire hot summer day in Southwest Florida to do with what they may. Maddox had learned it was one of the player’s birthday and the group was planning on celebrating by going out on some sort of alligator-related excursion that involved airboats. And with his priorities firmly in order and that smile still on his face, Maddox was just fine with that.
“I’m not one of those coaches that says, ‘Hey we’re here to play baseball, don’t have any fun,’” he said with a laugh. “This is a great trip for everybody and I want them to be able to enjoy themselves and have fun. But obviously,” he added, “I also want them to be ready for an 8 o’clock game and play a little better.”