Jamie Adams / Zang Adams Team / Compass Real Estate Broker

08/25/2026

08/25/2026

08/14/2026

No athlete embodies Texas’ gritty determination like Nolan Ryan.

The young pitcher wasn’t touted as the next big thing when he was drafted in the 12th round shortly after graduating from high school in 1965 in the small town of Alvin, 30 miles southeast of Houston.

But thanks to a powerful arm and an even stronger resolve, he played for four major league teams over a staggering 27 seasons, racking up unbreakable records like 5,714 strikeouts and seven no-hitters. Ryan’s boyhood idol, Sandy Koufax, has the second most at four. No other pitcher has more than three.

Embracing the Lone Star State’s love of all things grandiose, Ryan’s famed fastball was clocked at 100.9 mph in 1974 for Guinness World Records, but modern adjustments for technology suggest it was a blistering 108 mph. Plus, he was the first Major League Baseball player to sign a million-dollar contract.

Now, even in retirement, the entrepreneur has stayed close to the game, founding two Minor League Baseball franchises: the Round Rock Express and the Corpus Christi Hooks.

“I like to think that I have the same mindset in business that I had in baseball,” he says. “That if you’re going to be successful, you have to be willing to work hard and stay with it.”

Read our interview with Nolan Ryan here: https://texashighways.com/culture/nolan-ryan-still-brings-the-heat-in-baseball-and-business/