Shunning the treadmill like a smart hitter holding back on a curve ball in the dirt, Houston Astros owner and Central Texas business magnate Drayton McLane Jr. several times a week begins the day in a pair of running shoes. Whether it’s near his Temple home, Minute Maid Park in Houston, or overseas, McLane has already logged a few miles on city streets before many folks have wiped the sleep out of their eyes.

“I know everybody thinks I’m crazy. I get out 6 or 6:30 in the morning,” the Cameron native said. “I jog wherever I am in the world. I just to love to be outside. It really invigorates me.”

Only a few weeks after his 72nd birthday, McLane is still getting it done. With a shock of gray-black hair, standing 6-foot-4, he keeps a schedule that should make nine-to-fivers crawl under their desks in shame. McLane celebrated his latest birthday, July 22, putting in a 10-hour workday.

Although he is from a generation that has been slow to embrace the digital revolution, McLane has melded modern technology with old-school work ethic. The result is a mix of companies that supply computer software to the U.S. military and deliver food products worldwide, and a major league baseball team that in 2005 made it to the World Series for the first time in its 43-year history.

Listening to people who have worked for McLane during the company’s rapid growth - 30 percent a year for three decades - it’s obvious the McLane maxim, “Leading the Charge,” is no accident.

“He’s relentless,” said Webb Stickney, a senior vice president who has worked a quarter century for McLane. “He likes to say, ‘raise the bar.’ He doesn’t play games. He doesn’t play politics. He’s a very straight shooter.”

Dynamic. Hard-charging. Straightforward. People close to McLane say, yes, he is all of these, but the Drayton McLane story is more than that.

Philanthropy

When McLane bought the Astros in 1992, he set out determined to make a difference in the community that couldn’t be measured in the baseball standings.

McLane hired longtime Temple Wildcat football broadcaster Gene Pemberton as Astros spiritual leader and community development director. (“He’s got a great heart,” Pemberton says of McLane.) Players now visit schools and hospitals on a regular basis.

Back in 2005 the nation’s capital landed a major league franchise - the Washington Nationals. On their East Coast swing, McLane and the Astros visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The players spent a half-day talking with wounded soldiers, signing autographs and later shared a barbecue dinner.

“It’s heartrending to go do that,” McLane said. “It means a lot to those people, and it makes all of us feel better ... very inspiring.”

Today, seven full-time people in the Astros community development program annually attend more than 3,000 events in the Houston area.

Folks back in McLane’s hometown of Cameron can see firsthand an example of his generosity every time they walk into City Hall. Back in 2001, a 110-year-old downtown historic building had fallen into disrepair. McLane’s idea: Build a replica, but with modern amenities. Then move city administrative offices out of their cramped conditions into the new three-story facility. McLane and other family members paid for the new building.

“It saved the city of Cameron a great deal of money,” said then-city manager Janet Sheguit. “Without their generosity, the city would have had to go in debt and increase the tax rate.”

Ms. Sheguit said if McLane hadn’t stepped in, “instead of looking at this beautiful building, you would have a hole in the ground.”

Although he keeps a low profile, it’s easy to find McLane’s imprint on churches, schools, hospitals and philanthropic organizations across Central Texas. From the United Way, to the Boy Scouts, to Scott & White Hospital, McLane keeps a dizzying schedule serving on boards and donating his time.

This energy apparently runs in the family’s bloodline.

Family legacy

It’s probably no coincidence that as a boy Drayton McLane Sr. named his dog Busy. For more than 110 years in Central Texas, that’s exactly what the McLanes have been.

At age 9, McLane Jr. began working summers at the family grocery distribution business in Cameron. In 1959 he returned home from college with two diplomas under his belt and took the only job available - loading trucks during the night shift. McLane worked his way up, and spearheaded the company’s 1966 move to Temple. Embracing modern technology, the company’s exponential growth continued through the end of the century.

McLane and his wife, Elizabeth, have two sons who both graduated from Baylor University. Yet they did not go directly to work with the McLane Group.

“So often children feel they are pushed into a family business. I think it ought to be your choice,” the elder McLane said. “I had to ask my dad for a job when I got out of school.”

Today, the oldest son, Drayton III, is involved with three of the McLane Group’s companies. And although the younger, Denton, works in real estate in Birmingham, Ala., last week he met his father in Washington to work on a business deal.

Considering what three generations of McLanes have already accomplished, the family legacy could be daunting. After all, each generation seems to top their forefathers, not just in growing the company, but in longevity.

Company founder Robert McLane worked until he was 80. His son, Drayton Sr., came to the office into his ninth decade. Drayton Jr. says he wants to work 10 years longer than his father did.

So, if he works until age 100, will his two sons be able to continue the family legacy as centenarians?

Their father’s short answer: “You bet.”