Even in the context of mind-boggling individual success stories groomed at Thomas Jefferson High School from the mid '50s to mid '60s, Jack Rains from the class of '56 has assembled an eye-opening enough resume to be included in the inner circle.

    And that's pretty heady stuff when the inner circle includes multi-millionaire attorney Walter Umphrey, entertainer Janis Joplin, two-time Super Bowl winning football coach Jimmy Johnson, Texas Ranger/Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks, actor G.W. Bailey and World Health Organization president Dan Johnson.

    Highlights for Rains include being Texas' 95th Secretary of State, a run for governor, recognition as a distinguished alumnus of both Texas A&M and the University of Houston; and founder/chairman of the board of 3M/International, a Houston based design-management firm. 

    While with 3M/I, Rains received the "E" award from then President Reagan for boosting U.S. exports by over $4.

    It is, however, in his current position as chairman of the 13-member Harris County-Houston Sports Authority that Rains is positioned to make lasting impact.  Although he deflects credit to what he calls a “volunteer dream team that no amount of money could ever assemble,"   Rains figures to be remembered as the quarterback who engineered a stadium-building Triple Crown that assures Houston of being a sports Mecca well into the next millennium. 

    Currently rising in downtown is a spectacular stadium to be known as the Ballpark at Union Station.  Thanks in no small part to Rains' wheeling and dealing, the Astros new 42,000-seat playpen, featuring a retractable roof, is due to open on TIME and UNDER budget in April of 2000.  

    Already, the stadium project has sparked a real estate boom in previously dormant downtown Houston, with abandoned warehouses being bought and converted to loft apartments.   Hotels, restaurants and parks are on the drawing board.

    Not far behind, if all goes according to Rains' well-conceived plan, will be a 70,000-seat retractable-roof stadium adjacent to the Astrodome to house an NFL team, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and, hopefully, the 2012 Olympics. Targeted as the final jewel of the stadium Triple Crown is a 20,000-seat arena to house the Houston Rockets and a probable National Hockey League expansion franchise.

    "In all honesty, the stadium authority is the hardest working, most talented group of individuals I've ever been associated with," Rains asserts.  "If I deserve any credit, it's for being smart enough to take the same approach Bum Phillips did when he was coaching Earl Campbell.  My job is to get the ball to these people and get the hell out of the way."

    Rains is justifiably proud of what has been accomplished to date.  He is so proud of the Ballpark at Union Station; in fact, he will be in Beaumont today to speak about it to the Rotary Club and to unveil, for public perusal, a lavish scale model of the facility.  The unveiling, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Community Bank in the 700 block of Calder, even features a soundtrack by Astros announcer Milo Hamilton. 

    "This is the first time we've taken it out at Harris County," says Rains, who is working in conjunction with his old Port Arthur pal Walter Umphrey.  "The Golden Triangle is the first place I wanted to go with it.  I feel like the Astros belong to the region, not just to Houston, and I want folks over there to see what the ballpark at Union Station is going to look like when it's finished."

    Rains tends to wax eloquent about the treat in store for Astros fans as they move out of the Astrodome and into the new downtown edifice.  An edifice, by the way, that is being built with little pain to the Houston and Harris County taxpayer.

    "It's going to be a new and improved Camden Yards, with a retractable roof, and it's going to do wonders for downtown," Rains promises.  "As of today, there are maybe 1,000 people living in downtown Houston.  By the time the stadium opens, projections are for 10,000 to 12,000. Approximately $1.7 billion, including private investment, will be spent in the downtown area the next four years just on streets, sidewalks, landscaping and lighting.  I'm telling you, it's exciting to watch."

    With the baseball project moving smoothly, the immediate challenge for Rains and company is to have all their ducks in a row to meet with the NFL's expansion committee on October 27th.  Houston is considered to be among the front-runners for the NFL's 32nd franchise, to be awarded in 1999, but only if he can deliver a state-of-the-art stadium.

    Houston's NFL interest recently cleared a significant hurdle when the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, one of the four negotiating parties along with Harris County, NFL owner designee Bob McNair and The Sports Authority, signed off a lease and funding agreement.  With the Rodeo on board, Rains is poised to lead a Houston stampede into the void Bud Adams left.

    Any question this man doesn't belong in that illustrious TJ inner circle?

    Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net