| Registered on July 5, 2019 and updated on July 21, 2019:
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Personal Information:
| Rest in Peace |
| Name: | William Billy Paige Geivett
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| High School: | Highlands High |
| First Year: | 0000 |
| Last Year: | 0000 |
| Class Year: | 1981 |
| City: | |
| State: | |
| Postal Code: | |
| Country: | United States |
| Gender: | Male |
| Homepage: | |
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DOD: ??
Born on July 25th 1963, Billy took his first breaths of air right here in North Highlands at McClellan AFB. His parents, Morton & Amanda Geivett, came to North Highlands in 1958. They moved into their home on Graylock Lane and Mrs. Geivett still lives there to present date. Billy's dad was a Navy Man and his mother was a homemaker. Billy was the sixth child of the Geivett's seven children; all of which graduated from Highlands High. There is Margie (Class of 1965), Patricia (Class of 1968), Laura (Class of 1969), Geri (Class of 1971), Mort (Class of 1976), Billy (Class of 1981), and James "Jimbo" (Class of 1983). The Geivetts spent three decades at Highlands High. Lynne Mann, alumni and best friends with Patricia, says, "You at least have to know one Geivett." In fact, three of the Geivetts are in education. Mort was a High School teacher and now a Superintendent, James is currently a teacher at Highlands, and Patricia was a teacher at Rio Linda and Highlands and was also a Lawyer for the district. Billy also taught at Long Beach State for a time.
Billy credits his upbringing and being raised in North Highlands for much of his success. When asked where he is from, he doesn't hesitate to say,"North Highlands!" For Billy, growing up in North Highlands was one of the best things that could have happened to him. He had everything at his finger tips. The Air Force Base was close to schools and parks and all of his childhood friends lived right on his street. According to Billy, growing up in North Highlands back then was like no other place. Graylock Lane had so many families living on it's block. If you lived on Graylock, it wasn't hard to make friends and it didn't hurt to have six siblings. Billy recalls, "Back then that's all you did was played in the streets and you felt safe. Families would lookout for one another." Billy remembers that there were kids like Bobby Weston and Theresa Ortiz and families like the Andersons, Bells, Browns, Hawthrones, Lawtons, and the Millers to name a few, that were just on his side of the block. With all those kids on the block, Billy was right there in the mix. Playing with kids his age but also playing with older ones probably gave him an advantage and a competitive nature. Billy recalls playing catch with a baseball at an early age of about four or five with one of the Miller kids. He said he wanted to learn so badly how to catch that he would get frustrated when he would drop the ball and would cry. He said he still cries when he drops the ball. (LOL) Billy would also tag along and practice with other teams just to get the practice in and they would let him because he was good. Finally when he was eight, he was old enough to play and that's when he started his baseball career as a Little Leaguer. You might notice that Billy wore #6 most of his baseball career...due to the fact that his all time favorite player was #6 SAL BANDO of the Oakland A's.
In Billy's teenage years, he excelled in baseball where he dominated in Larchmont Little League and at Campus Verdes Jr High. High School and Big League were no different. Billy won championships on some great Larchmont Big League teams. Playing baseball in Highlands High, coaches soon saw his potential and moved him to varsity his Sophomore year. Billy was a three year varsity starter for Highlands. Billy was at times one of the top hitters in the league. Billy credits a lot of his coaches along the way for his success. There was Coach Alan Oshier, Coach Stanley, Coach Windley, Coach "Chunky" Harris, Coach Hal Steward, and Coach Bob HOF Rodness.
During his time at Highlands, Billy met the love of his life, Bonnie Cooper. Bonnie was a Junior and Billy was in his Senior year. The story goes Billy didn't want any distractions when he was playing baseball. So Billy was quick to notice this beautiful young lady volunteering to be a scorekeeper at the games sitting on the bench and he actually complained to his coach that he didn't want her on the bench because she was a distraction. Billy lost that battle!! Soon after they attended some "twirp week" functions...and the rest is history. Billy and Bonnie fell in love and were married in 1988 and have two children, Rachel (age 21) and Sam (age19).
Billy was catching the eye of baseball scouts in High School after graduating in 1981. He selected Sacramento City College to start his baseball career under the coaching of Jerry Weinstein a highly respected coach in baseball. During his time at Sac City, Billy was drafted by the Los Angles Dodgers in the 7th round in 1982, and Chicago White Sox drafted him the 5th round in 1983. He turned them both down because he wanted to finish his education.
Then Billy moved onto the University of Santa Barbara where they offered him a unprecedented full ride scholarship to join their campus and baseball team after a lot of offers from other big schools. This was the first time, Coach Ferrer of UCSB, ever offered a player a full ride, but that decision proved to be a tremendous success. While attending UCSB, Billy was making an impact on his baseball career as a Gaucho, a two time Big West first team honoree. He was third team ALL AMERICAN in 1985, coming through with a senior season that remains one of the greatest seasons that a Gaucho has ever had. Geivett hit a school-record .412 that year, and set new records for at-bats (243), hits (100), runs (74), triples (8), and total bases (146). Geivett reached base in over 60 percent of his at-bats that season. In Billy's Junior year at UCSB the Chicago Cubs drafted him in the 11th round in 1984. He once again declined all offers and decided education was more important to him at the time.
Soon after Billy completed his education, Geivett finally signed on the dotted line with the California Angels in 1985, and started the long process towards the big leagues. He worked his way up to AA, but in 1988 his playing career ended when he suffered a knee injury while running out a ground ball.
In 1988, Billy started his second career in baseball behind the scenes. With his education and baseball background Billy took advantage of the fact that his spot at third base always positioned him next to the opposing head coach in the third base coach’s box. Geivett spent years soaking in knowledge and the intricacies of the game. He would be so inquisitive about all the aspects of coaching and used it to his advantage. He started his coaching career at Loyola Marymount University in 1989 and at Long Beach State in 1990. Not stopping there and moving on up Billy broke into the majors as a scout with the Yankees in 1991-1993. From there he moved on to Montreal as Director of Player Development from 1994-1996. He then became a Special Assistant to the GM for the expansion Devil Rays from 1996-1998. Longing for a return to California, Geivett took a job with the Dodgers and worked his way up to Assistant General Manager and worked under Tommy Lasorda HOF Manager from 1998-2000. In 2000 the Colorado Rockies hired him as the Senior VP of Major League Operations, where he was until 2014.
During his 28 year career in professional baseball as a player, scout and front office executive, Billy never shied away from helping people to land jobs. The whole time he was thinking, "At some point I have to write a book." That's what Billy decided to do...after the Rockies he spent time developing a sports website and started writing his book. Released in 2017 titled, Do You Want To Work In Baseball. It was a year and a half project and it was truly a family affair with his brother Mort, sister Patty, and brother-in-law Randy Hughes (Highlands alumni-Class of 71) all helping him along away. His book is getting great reviews and he also appeared on TV on the show (HOT STOVE) on the MLB Channel. First copy of his book went to his mom Amanda. ( I WILL ATTACH A LINK TO HIS BOOK ) for baseball lovers, those who are looking for a job in baseball and mostly to support a Highlands Alumni. It's a must read.
https://www.facebook.com/Insidebaseballoperations/
Mr. William Paige Geivett (aka: Billy) has never forgotten his roots in North Highlands. He stays in touch with long time neighborhood friends, players he played with along the way and his Alumni friends from Highlands. He often visits his hometown meeting up with friends, playing golf, and reminiscing. He even attended one of our Lou's gatherings. Billy and Bonnie currently live in Vail, Arizona and are raising their two children.
As an Alumni writing this story, I can tell you I am very proud of Billy and his accomplishments in life. From a Hometown Boy from Graylock Lane to a Baseball Executive and now an Author from North Highlands I hope you're as proud of him as I am. Can't wait to see the next chapter in Billy's life.
Thank You Mr. Geivett For Your Time! ~ SCOTS 4-LIFE !! | | Honor Roll, varsity baseball | | |
