Leaving it on the Floor
Charli Collier reflects on her career at Barbers Hill and her future
Josh Koch
Mar 21, 2018, 3:51 pm
Collier has a long list of accomplishments, including a McDonald’s All-American selection.
Where do you start when you talk about Charli Collier?
There is the laundry list of career accomplishments – McDonald’s All-American, Naismith All-American First Team, WBCA High School All-American, 2018 Morgan Wooten Player of the Year Finalist, Jordan Brand Classic selection and Naismith National Girls High School Player of the Year Finalist.
Then there is the off-the-court impact Collier has had in the Barbers Hill community since arriving there as a freshman. The role model she serves as to young women in the community and really the Houston area.
Collier did it all in her four years at Barbers Hill High School.
“The impact I’ve had on my school and my community, people look up to me as a role model like I’m something important,” Collier said. “I’m just grateful to be a person someone can come to. It’s more than basketball. I feel like I’m out here making history.”
On the court, Collier was someone teams had to always be ready for and try to slow down.
In her four years, Collier amassed 3,539 points (1,265 scored this past season), finished with 1,408 rebounds, 216 assists, 339 blocks and was a 57.7-percent shooter from inside the arc and 32.9-percent shootout outside of it.
“I think about when I first came here my freshman year and I look how I did my senior year,” Collier said. “I was a completely different player. My body type was different, my style of play was different, my shots I took were different. Everything about me from freshman year to this year was different. I would just describe my game as improved.”
When Collier walked onto campus in 2014, the goal was to of course win a state championship.
Collier’s team never did that, but the list of team accomplishments are what she is most proud of.
Barbers Hill won 126 games with Collier on the roster; the Lady Eagles captured three District 21-5A Championships going a combined 63-3 in district play.
Once in the playoffs, Barbers Hill didn’t disappoint.
In the past four years, the Lady Eagles exit the playoffs earlier than the regional quarterfinals. In 2017, Barbers Hill advanced all the way to the state semifinals.
“I can say that over the years there were other good things that had happened not just for me but for our team,” Collier said. “We accomplished so many wins, district titles, made it to regionals and never got stopped early. I look back and I don’t have any regrets about anything that happened throughout my years.”
With her high school career officially in the books, outside of a few all-star games and All- American games she will play in, Collier can now look towards Austin.
Collier will be joining the Texas Longhorns next season and is ready to continue her athletic and academic career on the 40 acres.
Heading to Austin for her freshman campaign, Collier said is like her freshman year at Barbers Hill. The senior continued
saying when she arrives at Texas no one cares what you did in high school, what you were ranked or how many awards you received. It’s a fresh start.
Past Texas there are the goals of making Team USA and potentially getting drafted into the WNBA for Collier, but she knows if she doesn’t put in the work now none of that will ever come.
“My biggest goal right now is getting college-ready,” Collier said. “Everything else will follow. If I do that, if I get college-ready, then I will do everything else. National Championships will come, Team USA, WNBA all of that is in the long run. I know I want to do that but right now I’m just focused on getting college-ready.”
With her time at Barbers Hill done and as she took time to look back, there was one final question to answer.
What do you hope people will remember the most about Charli Collier?
“A lot of people say how humble, kind and genuine I am,” Collier said. “I just hope people remember me as someone who was always hardworking no matter what I did. In the classroom or the basketball court. Someone
who was there for other people when they needed help; a motivator, a role model. I just see someone who made a huge impact on Barbers Hill.
“I hope the community knows that when I put on a Barbers Hill jersey I was playing for them. I’m playing for my family, my team and my coaches. I just hope people remember me as someone who was always hardworking no matter what I did when I stepped onto a Barbers Hill court.”
This article appears in the March Issue of VYPE Magazine. Pick up your copy at any one of our locations next week!
Cal Raleigh becomes the first catcher, switch-hitter to win the Home Run Derby. Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images.
Cal Raleigh approached the All-Star Home Run Derby like a day on the lawn. Dad was on the mound and baby brother was behind the plate.
Only this time, there were tens of thousands looking on at Truist Park and a $1 million prize.
“It goes all the way back to him coming home and me forcing him to throw me a ball and hit it in the backyard or in the house or something probably shouldn’t be doing,” a beaming Cal said, flanked by Todd and Todd Jr. after defeating Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in the final round Monday night.
Todd Raleigh, former coach of Tennessee and Western Carolina, threw the pitches and Cal’s 15-year-old brother, Todd Raleigh Jr., did the catching. A first-time All-Star at age 28, Cal became the first switch-hitter and first catcher to win the title. He’s the second Mariners player to take the title after three-time winner Ken Griffey Jr., who was on the field, snapping photos.
“Anybody that’s ever played baseball as a kid dreams of stuff like this,” Cal’s dad said. “I dreamed of it. He dreamed of it. When you’re a parent, you look at it differently because you want your kids to be happy.”
Leading the major leagues with 38 home runs at the All-Star break, Cal almost didn’t make it past the first round. The Mariners’ breakout slugger nicknamed Big Dumper and the Athletics’ Brent Rooker each hit 17 homers, and Raleigh advanced on a tiebreaker for longest long ball: 470.61 feet to 470.53 — or 0.96 inches. At first, Cal wasn’t aware whether there would be a swing-off.
“An inch off, and I’m not even in the final four, which is amazing,” Cal said. “So I guess I got lucky there. One extra biscuit.”
Raleigh totaled 54 homers. He won his semifinal 19-13 over Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz, whose 513-foot first-round drive over the right-center field seats was the longest of the night.
Cal Raleigh's #HRDerby by the numbers:
Total HR: 54
HR of 425+: 31
Top distance: 471 ft
Avg distance: 430 ft
Total distance: 23,212 ft
Top exit velo: 112 MPH
Avg exit velo: 102 MPH pic.twitter.com/0pV6nGWLsA
— MLB (@MLB) July 15, 2025
Cal’s brother, nicknamed T, kept yelling encouragement to the brother he so admires.
“His swag, the way he plays, the way he hustles,” T said.
Hitting second in the final round, the 22-year-old Caminero closed within three dingers — MLB counted one that a fan outfielder caught with an over-the-wall grab. Using a multicolored bat and down to his last out, Caminero took three pitches and hit a liner to left.
“I didn’t think I was going to hit as many home runs or make it to the finals,” Caminero said through a translator.
Cal was just the second Derby switch-hitter after Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman in 2023. His dad was a righty and wanted both his sons to hit from both sides.
“Did it from the first day, when he was in diapers, literally,” Todd Sr. said. “I would take that big ball and he had a big red bat. I’d throw it slow and he’d hit it. Then I’d say stay there, pick him up, turn him around, switch his hands and do it again. I was a catcher. I played a little bit, and I just knew what a premium it was. I didn’t want either one of my boys to ever say, am I right-handed or left-handed?”
There was a downside.
“I don’t recommend it if you have two kids, they’re both switch hitters, if you want to save your arm, because that’s a lot of throwing,” said dad, who had rotator cuff surgery.
Raleigh hit his first eight homers left-handed, took a timeout, then hit seven right-handed. Going back to lefty, he hit two more in the bonus round and stayed lefty for the rest of the night.
“Was grooving a little bit more lefty so we were like, since we have a chance to win, we might as well stick to the side that’s working a little better,” Cal said.
Caminero beat Minnesota’s Byron Buxton 8-7 in the other semifinal. Atlanta’s Matt Olson, Washington’s James Wood, the New York Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Rooker were eliminated in the first round of the annual power show.
Cruz’s long drive was the hardest-hit at 118 mph.
Wood hit 16 homers, including one that landed on the roof of the Chop House behind the right-field wall. Olson, disappointing his hometown fans, did not go deep on his first nine swings and finished with 15, Chisholm hit just three homers, the fewest since the timer format started in 2015.fter it was all over, the Raleighs headed out. Stephanie, the boys’ mom and Todd Sr.'s wife, is surrounded by baseball.
After it was all over, the Raleighs headed out. Stephanie, the boys’ mom and Todd Sr.'s wife, is surrounded by baseball.
“We kind of leave it in the cage. We’ve got a cage at home, a building,” Todd Sr. said. “Or we leave it in the car on the rides home. There’s probably been a few times where she says, yeah, that’s enough.”