What’s In A Name?

Calyx Jaxson was born into the world on Wednesday, September 4th at 8:05AM weighing 8lbs and 8 oz to his awesome parents Callix and Amanda Crabbe. To his friends and family, Calyx will be known as C.J.

I met Callix in 2000 when he was a rising senior at Stone Mountain High School. I was in my second year as a professional swing coach, learning what it meant to be a professional and I was also in my first year as a professional scout for the Cincinnati Reds.

For three months, my job was to evaluate Callix’s speed, hoping for an increase so that I could report it to my scouting supervisor in hopes that Callix would get drafted. He indeed was drafted that year by the Atlanta Braves, but he chose to attend Young Harris Junior College over LSU as a student/athlete. The following year he transferred to Manatee Junior College (FL) and was drafted and signed by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Through all of this, I accepted the responsibility of being his mentor and swing/life coach. I had done all of the things that he wanted to do and I believed He could do them too and much more. My wife and I made it a priority to help him reach his goal of being a Major League Baseball player, loving husband and father and community leader. He thought we were preparing him to be drafted but we knew we were preparing him to win at the game of life.