McNicholas High School will break ground at noon on Oct. 20 on a new turf baseball complex, funded by what the Mt. Washington Catholic school is calling the largest gift in its history. The donation, from alumnus Kerry Byrne and his wife, Missy, will transform the existing grass diamond inside the school's athletic hub into an all-weather facility with a new turf field, upgraded dugouts, and improved accessibility.
The renovated Byrne Family Baseball Complex will include a versatile turfed playing surface, new batting tunnels and a training area, a movable pitcher's mound, and improved bullpens, according to WCPO 9 Cincinnati. The upgrades will also boost Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility throughout the complex. School officials expect the renovation to be finished in time for the 2027 baseball season, and the station reports that the new turf should cut down on the postponed or relocated practices and games that rain has long forced onto McNicholas's calendar.
It's not just baseball players who stand to benefit. The field will double as practice and competition space for soccer, lacrosse, cross country, football, softball, and sports performance training, per the same report, giving McNicholas more than 500 male and female student-athletes additional space to train without leaving campus.
A Family Tied to the School for Generations
Kerry Byrne graduated from McNicholas in the class of 1983, and the school says his connection to the Beechmont Avenue campus runs deep. “McNicholas has played an important role in the lives of multiple generations of the Byrne family,” Byrne said, according to WCPO, adding that he and Missy are honored to support the school's mission and help future students grow academically, athletically, and spiritually.
Byrne's ties to McNicholas athletics predate his gift by decades. He played outfield for the school before continuing his career at the University of Cincinnati, and he later joined Total Quality Logistics in 2005, eventually rising to company president in 2021, according to the Hyde Park-Oakley Record. TQL founder Ken Oaks and several of the firm's top executives, Byrne among them, were teammates on McNicholas's 1983 football team before helping build the company into North America's second-largest freight brokerage, as Cincinnati Magazine has reported.
That high school bond has translated into a recurring pattern of giving. Byrne and fellow TQL alumni executives previously contributed corporate financial support to the school's Project Paradise stadium expansion back in 2012, the company noted in a press release at the time. McNicholas president Bob Noll said the new project begins a fresh chapter for the school, framing the Byrnes' generosity as something that will create opportunities for generations of students in athletics and classrooms alike, per the station's report.
Building on More Than 15 Years of Alumni Investment
The baseball complex sits inside Paradise, the outdoor athletic area on McNicholas's nearly 48-acre campus that also houses Penn Station Stadium and the school's softball fields. Project Paradise, an alumni-driven campaign launched in 2009, built Penn Station Stadium; the field was installed in 2010 and the inaugural game was held that October. The track was finished in 2011, stadium lights were added in 2018, and bleachers were among later improvements, according to the McNicholas Milestone.
The Byrne gift isn't only about athletics. It also supports the school's parallel planning to update and renovate indoor academic classrooms, the Record reports, effectively letting the baseball project's funding free up other resources for the school's broader facilities goals.
A Program Built on Championship History
McNicholas baseball has its own pedigree to defend on the new field. The Rockets won the OHSAA Division II state championship in 1998, defeating Rocky River High School 6-5, according to OHSAA state tournament records. Current head coach Brian Gatio was an assistant on that championship team before later returning to lead the program, which went 18-10 during the 2024-2025 season, per the McNicholas Milestone.
The Catholic school also has athletic programs beyond baseball.
Byrne said he remains connected to his alma mater and is committed to creating opportunities for future generations of Rockets, according to WCPO's report on the groundbreaking announcement. With the ceremony set for Oct. 20, McNicholas administrators are framing the turf complex as the latest — and largest — step in a philanthropic relationship between the school and its alumni that now spans more than a decade.
