After decades of dedication, excellence, and mentorship, we honor the retirement of a true St. Thomas Aquinas legend — Coach Ed Waters.
Coach Waters served as the head baseball coach at STA for over two decades, and has been an integral member of the staff since then. His teams never had a losing season and as head coach he reached the state final four multiple times — including a Class 5A State Championship in 1995.
His leadership helped produce over 80 college scholarship athletes and multiple MLB players.
Before his coaching career, Ed Waters was a standout athlete at St. John’s University, where he co-captained the team to the 1968 College World Series and is a member of the St. John’s Athletic Hall of Fame. He later spent four years in the New York Yankees’ minor league system, moving to South Florida in 1971 to play for the Fort Lauderdale Yankees.
Coach Waters began teaching history and government at STA in 1973 and became head coach in 1976.
He is a proud inductee of both the High School Baseball Network (HSBN) Hall of Fame and the Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA) Hall of Fame. He was able to win a state championship with his grandson in 2018 and in his final season, he was a member of the coaching staff that helped guide the Raiders to their fourth FHSAA State Championship this May.
From all of us at STA and across the baseball community — thank you, Coach Waters. Your legacy lives on at Ed Waters Field and in the lives of every student-athlete you inspired.
