Jim Crane hails from St. Louis, Missouri, where he became a loyal, spirited fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. As a teen-ager, he caddied for members of the Cardinals team at local golf clubs and parked cars for patrons at Cardinals games. Jim was impressed by the caring, family atmosphere on the Cardinals team and the team’s close ties with the local community. He has carried these values forward throughout his life in business, philanthropic and per-sonal relationships.

As a young man, Jim put his innate passion for baseball into action at Central Missouri State University (now the University of Central Missouri), where he was a standout pitcher for the Mules from 1973 -76 under the late, revered coach, Robert Tompkins. He had a four-year record of 21-8 with an earned-run average of 2.42. He was named the Most Valuable Player in 1974 for the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association and an hon-orable mention All-American in 1974 and 1975. In the Mules’ baseball record book, Jim ranks first in career com-plete games (23), first in career shutouts (7) and third in career strikeouts (215). He still holds the Mules’ single-game strikeout record with 18. He threw a shutout with 11 strikeouts in a row in the Mules opening game of the 1974 College World Series and finished second in NCAA-II that season with an 11.9 strikeouts per 9 innings ratio. In 1997, Jim was inducted into the Central Missouri State University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Jim was the primary underwriter of a $1.2-million renovation in 1998 of the old Mules’ Field on the University of Central Missouri campus. On January 21, 1998, the facility was renamed the James R. Crane Stadium/Robert N. Tompkins Field in honor of Jim and his beloved coach. Jim continues to contribute to the college annually to provide athletic scholarships for Mules baseball.

Jim earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Safety from Central Missouri State University in 1976. This led to a loss control job evaluating commercial risks for an insurance company and then a move to Houston in 1982, where he entered the freight forwarding business.

In March 1984, at the age of 30 and with $10,000 borrowed from his sister, Jim founded Eagle USA Airfreight (EGL, Inc.). In his first office located in Houston with a sole employee, Jim handled the loading and trucking himself. The company made money in its first month, and Jim ultimately built it into an organization of more than 10,000 employees with 400-plus facilities in 139 countries. EGL was named one of Houston’s “Best Places to Work,” and reached #599 on the Fortune 1000 list during Jim’s tenure. Jim has been the recipient of a long list of awards and honors for his entrepreneurial activities and business successes. The company was acquired in an LBO transaction that closed August, 2007.

In August of 2008, Crane formed Crane Worldwide Logistics (CWW), a premier global provider of customized transportation and logistics services. CWW has and continues to grow rapidly with experienced members of

james R. CRane

Crane’s management team and sales force at the helm. The three-year-old company will do in excess of $400 million in sales in 2011.

Today, Jim is CEO and President of Crane Capital Group, Inc., and works with The Crane Foundation, which contrib-utes to local and national charities.

Jim is the owner of Champion Energy Services, which ranks in the top five nonutility-affiliated retail electric providers in the United States and among the top 20 retail electricity companies in the nation.

His love of baseball is unabated, and he has added the game of golf to his athletic endeavors. With a .08 handicap, he was ranked number one CEO Golfer in 2006 by Golf Di-gest. Crane acquired the Floridian, a private golf resort in Palm City, Florida in 2010.