Javier Cavazos

Javier Cavazos was born in San Juan, Texas, on Christmas Eve in 1946. He was originally named Xavier, but the nurses at the hospital changed the X to a J on his birth certificate, so Javier he would stay.

He moved first to Joliet, Illinois, and then to Lansing, arriving in Michigan’s state capital in 1963 and enrolling at Lansing Sexton High School. He played youth baseball, pitching and playing first base for the Lansing Cardinals in the Latin American Baseball League.

In 1964, at 18 years old, he stepped forward and formed the Northside Athletic & Recreation Club (NARC), evolving into an organized program of teenagers from around Lansing, participating in the parks and recreation baseball league as the first all-Mexican youth team in Mid Michigan.

As NARC grew, Cavazos formed the Lansing Original Little League for 8-12-year-olds in 1972. He coached Lansing youth baseball and basketball teams at all levels, including Sandy Koufax baseball, Babe Ruth baseball, Pony baseball, and Michigan Parks and Recreation baseball. In 1990, NARC was renamed the Capital Area Youth Sports Association (CAYSA).

Cavazos not only provided the opportunity for thousands of Mid-Michigan boys and girls to play ball, but he also brought them to the greatest heights and put Lansing sports on the map. His ballclubs won state titles in 1974, 1976, 1984, 1991, 1995, 1997, and 1999 and regional championships in 1976, 1986, 1994 and 2005.

In all, Javier Cavazos’s coaching legacy stretches over five decades and includes such baseball standouts as John Smoltz and Bruce Fields in addition to coaching Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Dale Beard in basketball.

 “Javier Cavazos: Mentor of Many, Amigo to Youth” by Noe Hernandez served as a primary source for this biography.