GRAMBLING, La. (KNOE) – Bastrop native and former Grambling State baseball standout Gary Eave is proving it’s never too late to finish what you start.
At 62 years old, Eave returned to Grambling State University after nearly five decades and officially earned his college degree. He walked across the commencement stage on Dec. 5.
For Eave, hearing his name called during graduation marked the end of a journey that began in the 1980s, when he first arrived on campus as a student-athlete.
“I was just really proud,” Eave said. “To have God allow me, all these years later, to be able to do that.”
Eave’s pitching talent eventually led him to leave school early in 1985 after being drafted to play professional baseball for the Atlanta Braves. What started as a collegiate career quickly turned into a lifelong dream realized.
“The day that draft came, it was a dream come true for a little kid from Bastrop, Louisiana,” he said.
Eave played for Braves and Seattle Mariners in the MLB.
While baseball took him around the country, Eave said one promise always stayed with him, finishing the degree he started at Grambling.
“It was a promise I wanted to keep to my parents,” Eave said. “I wanted to honor that promise when I decided to turn professional out of Grambling. Then my wife, my sweetheart I met at Grambling all those years ago, she pushed me so hard to finish. I had to make good on what all of them wanted for me.”
Shortly after his wife’s death in 2024, Eave reenrolled at GSU.
That determination paid off. Eave walked across the stage, earning his degree in General Studies with a minor in Criminal Justice.
Eave said the milestone was deeply emotional, especially thinking about the loved ones who encouraged him along the way.
“I’m quite sure my dad would’ve been on cloud 100, and my mom, being the adorable woman she was, would’ve been immensely proud of me,” Eave said. “And my wife, I could hear her screaming all the way from heaven. She was always my greatest cheerleader.”
Eave plan going forward is to mentor young men in Franklin Louisiana, where he does ministry, and in Bastrop.
He wants his story to serve as inspiration for others who may have stepped away from their education. He said no matter how long it takes, it’s never too late to come back and finish strong.
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