Our History


Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas, boasts one of the state's oldest baseball programs, with organized play dating back to 1898. Known as the Maroons, our team has a rich tradition, including a state championship title in 1958 and four other appearances at the state tournament’s final four teams. As part of the oldest public high school in Texas, the program has competed for over a century.

  • 1881

    Austin High is founded at 11th & Rio Grande in downtown Austin.

  • 1898

    Austin High fields its first baseball team. They played at Clark Field on the UT campus,and even beat the UT team!

  • Early 1900's

    Players bought their own uniforms and had the lettering sewn on by their mothers.There were no buses to get players to their games so Dr I.I. Nelson, the "Father of Austin High Athletics" drove them in his Model T-Ford.

  • 1925

    The school moves to 1212 Rio Grande and the baseball team plays at House Park in what is now the parking lot

  • 1930's

    Enrollment grows to around 8,000 students

  • 1949

    The baseball team plays in the championship game of the first UIL State Tournament against El Paso Bowie.

  • 1958

    The baseball team wins its first (4A) State Championship against Lufkin!

  • 1959 & 1965

    The baseball team finished 3rd in the State Championship

  • 1965

    Mr. Maroo was created, the same year that Don Baylor broke the color barrier on our team!

  • 1975

    Austin High moves to its current location on Cesar Chavez

Notable Players

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Notable Players ♦

  • Owen “Chief” Wilson (1901) still holds the MLB single-season record of 36 triples for the Pirates in 1912.

  • “Rip" Collins (1914) joined the New York Yankees in 1920 and played for 11 years as a pitcher.

  • Cedric Durst (1914) played with the Browns, Red Sox, and Yankees.

  • Roy Moore (1916) played with Philadephia and Detroit.

  • Bibb Falk (1917) played baseball and football at UT and signed with the Chicago White Sox. When the 1919 Black Sox Scandal broke, he replaced Shoeless Joe Jackson in Left Field

  • Ox Eckhardt (1919) outfielder; In 2003 he was elected to the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame and in 2013 he was elected to the Texas League Hall of Fame

  • Jack Conway (1937) infielder; three partial seasons with the Cleveland Indians

  • J.L. Smith (1951) college pitcher; most notable for winning the 1953 College World Series Most Outstanding Player award while a junior at University of Texas at Austin. He is one of six players from University of Texas at Austin to win that award

  • Ray Culp (1959) pitcher; Phillies, Cubs & Red Sox; become successful in real estate in Austin, TX and named his company after his major league batting average (123, Inc.).

  • Don Baylor (1967) had a stellar MLB coreer including AL MVP in 1979 and won the Roberto Clemente Award in 1985. After a long career playing in MLB, he was named NL Monoger of the Year in 1995 elected to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

  • Danay Covert (1968) drafted by the Cleveland Indians from Austin High

  • Charlie Crenshaw V (1969) Brother of professional golfer Ben Crenshaw; played college baseball for the University of Texas Longhorns from 1970–1973

  • Scott Ruffcorn (1987) pitcher for White Sox & Phillies

  • Drew French (2002) pitching coach for the Astros, Braves (2021 WS win), and then Orioles