25 Facts About Jim Crane

James Robert Crane was born on January 17,1954 and is an American businessman from Houston, Texas.

Jim Crane is the owner and chairman of the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball - which under his ownership has won two World Series championships.

Jim Crane, who grew up in the north St Louis suburb of Dellwood, Missouri, attended Lutheran High School North and graduated in 1972.

Jim Crane gave the school a donation of $1 million to improve their athletic facilities and enlarge the size of the campus from 40 acres to 67 in 2004.

Jim Crane earned a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial safety from Central Missouri State University in 1976, where he became a member of the fraternity, Tau Kappa Epsilon.

Jim Crane's father died between his freshman and sophomore years, and Crane seriously thought about dropping out of college; however, his coach, Robert N Tompkins, drove to his home in north St Louis and talked Crane into returning to school.

Jim Crane moved to Houston in 1980, and in March 1984, Crane borrowed $10,000 from his sister and founded Eagle USA Airfreight, an air-freight logistics business.

Jim Crane had wanted to do a leveraged, management, or combination buyout of EGL, prior to the merger with CEVA, but was unable to obtain financing on acceptable terms.

Jim Crane took his profits from EGL and formed Jim Crane Capital Group.

Jim Crane became a director and shareholder in Western Gas Holdings, LLC, the general partner in Western Gas Partners, LP, a midstream energy company operating in the southeastern Rocky Mountain region and southern Mid-Continent area of the United States.

Jim Crane is the majority shareholder in Jim Crane Worldwide Logistics LLC, chairman of the board for CargoJet, and director of both Nabors Industries and natural gas company Western Midstream.

Jim Crane first attempted to become a baseball owner in 2008, when he approached Drayton McLane about buying the team.

Jim Crane made bids to buy a team in both 2009 and 2010, but neither effort succeeded, with the latter bid reportedly being rejected due to the influence of McLane despite reportedly being a better deal than the accepted one.

In May 2011, Jim Crane reached an agreement to purchase the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball from McLane for a reported $680 million.

Jim Crane was unanimously approved by MLB on November 17,2011.

Jim Crane received $35 million bumps from McLane and the MLB in exchange for this league-change stipulation, which was previously committed to by McLane.

When Jim Crane purchased the team, they were coming off a season in which they won only 56 games.

Jim Crane opened two restaurants in Houston in 2017, Osso and Kristalla, and Potente, named for his children.

Also in 2017, Jim Crane started a software company called Modiant to focus on digitizing freight and transportation management.

Two officials pled guilty to different charges, but Jim Crane himself was not named in those investigations.

Jim Crane's son Jared is senior vice president of executive operations for the Astros.

Jim Crane's daughter, Krystal Crane Thompson, is a board member of the Crane Family Foundation.

In 2020, Jim Crane donated $400,000 and 100,000 COVID test swabs and personal protective equipment to support local hospitals fighting the pandemic.

In February 2021, Jim Crane was named as one of 8 members of a fund advisory board for the Houston Harris County Winter Storm Relief Fund.

The Astros gave away free tickets to a game to anyone who donated to the drive, and Crane Worldwide, owned by Jim Crane, provided up to 30 large trucks to transport the supplies to those in need.