Update: Coach Higgins is now a “go” for August 12. “After some good therapy on Monday and Tuesday, I believe I will be ready for the Cats game in Fort Worth,” he told me today. Higgins tripped over a ramp at the LHHS baseball field in May, and the hip injury has been bothering him since.
With many of his former players there to cheer him on, recently retired Wildcat baseball coach Jay Higgins threw out the opening pitch at the July 27 Ranger game. Just before Texas and Minnesota took the field, Higgins was introduced as a member of the Texas High School Baseball Coaches’ Hall of Fame and his family, players and supporters roared their approval.
“My pitch was a darting cut fastball that must have broke at least 2 inches,” said Higgins afterward. “The big night at the ballpark went great.”
Higgins came to Lake Highlands High in 1968, and retired when the Class of 2011 graduated. He’s been invited to throw out the first pitch at a Fort Worth Cats game on August 12th, but a nagging hip injury means makes that engagement a “maybe.” Former Wildcat Don Lennox has this advice for his beloved coach: “Regarding your sore hip, I can only think of three words uttered many times during our years in high school…’Put Ice On It.’”