Hall of Fame Adding Four Stars

The constellation grows brighter as St. Xavier High School announces four new stars entering its Athletic Hall of Fame.

Baseball standout Jason Basil (’97), swimming phenomenon Jayme Cramer (’01), soccer-wrestling multi-sport talent Shaun Rockey (’94) and veteran team physician Dr. Rob Heidt Jr. (’69) land in the Hall come February. Fellow Bomber Hall of Famer Chris Mack (’88), Xavier University’s men’s basketball coach, will be the featured speaker at the induction ceremonies.

“I’ve spoken to all the nominees and all of them are excited and grateful to be enshrined,” said. St. X President Fr. Tim Howe S.J. “The Hall of Fame Induction Evening is a great night for St. X.”

“Like every year, there were some difficult decisions for the committee when they voted,” said John Schrantz (’96), alumni director. “But these four guys could not be more deserving of this honor. They were dominant athletes not just at St. X, but across the city, the state and country. And Dr. Heidt is clearly at the top of his field; we’ve been blessed to have him on our sidelines taking such good care of our guys.”

Basil was a four-year varsity baseball player, the first freshman ever to start for the varsity. Among his many honors, Jason was the GCL player of the year his sophomore and junior seasons, Baseball America’s best player in Ohio and an All-America selection by Baseball America, High School Baseball USA, Mizuno and Colligate Baseball American. He set the St. Xavier record for highest batting average at .507. Basil also holds the Georgia Tech record sacrifice flies and was drafted by the Oakland A’s in 2001. Jason now coaches with the freshman team at St. Xavier.

During Cramer’s four years at St. X, the swim team won four GCL, sectional, district and state championships. Jayme was national high school swimmer of the year as a senior, as well as Ohio high school swimmer of the year both as a junior and senior. He was a two-time Academic All-America selection while setting several state records for the AquaBombers. At Stanford University he was a two-time NCAA champion and 20-time All-American. Jayme was a member of the USA Swimming National Team from 2000 to 2008 winning two gold, one silver and two bronze medals in world championships. Jayme now is married with two children.

Rockey was a two-time St. Xavier Wrestling Invitational winner and 1992 tournament MVP. He was GCL wrestler of the year as a senior, won three sectional and one district wrestling titles, as well as earning third-place and runner-up finishes in the state tournament on his way to a career record of 81-23-1. In soccer, Shawn was a two-time first team all-GCL pick and served as team captain for the 1993 undefeated regular season. He was named St. Xavier team MVP, GCL player of the year, first team all-city and second team all-state. Shawn continued his soccer career at the University of Dayton, where he was Atlantic-10 Tournament MVP and team MVP. After college, Shawn played professionally for the Cincinnati Riverhawks, Cincinnati Excite Professional Indoor Soccer (where he was team captain) and was a member of the U.S. National Arena Soccer Team in 2008.

Rob Heidt began serving as the St. Xavier team physician in 1983. Over the course of nearly 30 years on the sidelines, he treated hundreds of injured student athletes and guided them safely back to the field. More than that, though, he became instrumental in creating and implementing a state-of-the-art sports medicine program to assist not only rehabilitation of injuries, but more importantly develop the idea of wellness and preventive medicine to strengthen student athletes and help them avoid injury in the first place. In addition to his work with St. X, Rob shared his expertise while serving with the Ohio High School Athletic Association, who named him Ohio team physician of the year. Beyond the prep sidelines, Heidt was the long-time team physician for the Cincinnati Bengals and is the former president of the NFL Physicians Society. Rob is a partner at Wellington Orthopedics and a former St. Xavier board member and board chairman. He and his wife Julie are parents of three St. X graduates.