At 12 years old while playing for the Ellisville Little League team in St. Louis, Ryan Howard hit a baseball past a 295-foot field, over the 20-foot fence, past the parking lot of a nearby Red Lobster and on top of the Red Lobster restaurant. That is when his older brother, LSU Associate Athletics Director Chris Howard, knew of his younger brother’s potential as a baseball player. “The hit was measured by a Philadelphia reporter at 430 feet, and that was at 12 years old,” the elder Howard said. Ryan Howard’s mother, Cheryl Howard, said she knew of his potential a long time before that legendary Little League hit. “I always thought he would be a pretty good athlete,” Cheryl Howard told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Even from when he was about 2 years old, Ryan would watch television and swing his little plastic bat, and it was the way he did it – imitating. He was always so focused on the game on TV, always so determined. Some kids just get up there and swing, but he was really into it. Baseball was always his first love.” Now, Ryan Howard is a first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies and has traded in Red Lobster restaurant buildings for major league stands. Most notable is Pittsburgh’s PNC Park where he captured the 2006 Home Run Derby crown in a showdown with the New York Mets’ David Wright. But for Ryan Howard it was not a smooth road from Little League legend to major league stardom. Chris Howard said he remembers how hard his brother has worked, coming from being a walk-on first baseman at Southwest Missouri State to a MLB All Star for the Phillies. He said he also remembers the day he changed in the public eye from being Chris Howard to Ryan Howard’s older brother. “It was my last year of law school at Kansas, and I had some buddies who knew him,” Chris Howard said. “They came to play Kansas, and he hit two home runs while I was there. So I became Ryan’s older brother.” After stellar freshman and sophomore campaigns, Ryan Howard was projected to be a first round pick in the 2001 MLB Draft, but after a lackluster junior season, he ultimately was drafted in the fifth round by the Phillies. This led Chris Howard to make a bold statement to Mike Arbuckle, assistant general manager of the Phillies who was then the team’s director of scouting and player development. He told Arbuckle, “If Ryan plays to his potential, you’ll have the steal of the draft.” After 271 hits, 80 home runs and 206 RBIs in a little less than two full seasons, that statement appears to be well founded. But what made Chris Howard say this to Arbuckle was nothing his brother had done physically. “Ryan has an intangible that great athletes have,” Chris Howard said. “Ryan is very critical of himself, and he never gets too high or too low. But at the same time, he’s always working hard to tweak his game.” Chris Howard was named LSU’s associate director for compliance in 2003 after a nine-year stint as a combat medical specialist in the military, two years in private law practice and two years in the NCAA office. When Chris Howard came to LSU, his brother began to pay more attention to LSU sports and has become a fan of the Tigers. Howard has been to several football games, including the 2003 national championship game against Oklahoma University. He said Ryan Howard likes the atmosphere and usually tries to make at least one home game a year. “He said it was the simple fact that you had to yell to someone two feet away from you for them to hear you,” Chris Howard said. “He is trying to plan out his trip to Baton Rouge or wherever to catch a couple of games this year.” Even with the younger Howard currently leading the major leagues with 56 home runs, even with him earning National League Rookie of the Year honors in 2005 after only playing 88 games and even with the 2006 Home Run Derby title, Chris Howard said it’s his brother’s personality that makes him the most proud. “The thing that I’m most proud of him about is that he’s still Ryan,” Chris Howard said. “He’s still the person he was when he was 8 years old. He’ll take time out to chat with any and every one whether he’s had a good or bad game.” With all the accomplishment Ryan Howard has already achieved, Chris said there is one more his parents would like to see. “No matter if Ryan makes 100 or 200 million dollars, my parents will be on him to finish school,” Chris Howard said. “I’m the one that’s off the hook,” Chris Howard said of his three degrees. “When it comes to Ryan, my parents will definitely be in his ear telling him to get his education.”
—–Contact Jeff Martin at [email protected]