Joe Bellino sat in the right-field bleachers at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, peering down the right-field line at his former college roommate. Approximately 200 feet physically separated Bellino from Houston Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell that day, but on a professional level, the former classmates at the University of Hartford were thousands of miles apart.

Ten years of Major League Baseball success has helped Bagwell, one of the game's greatest power hitters, distance himself from virtually every one of his former classmates at Hartford. But according to Bellino, Jeff Bagwell, the man, has changed very little over the years.

"He's managed to keep himself somewhat humble," says Bellino. "He knows where he came from; he knows his roots. In college, he was one of us. No one was loaded or had any fame. And he doesn't forget those people. And that's what makes him a little more special."

Brother William Ciganek, the principal at Xavier High in Middletown, Conn., Bagwell's alma mater, agrees.

	Jeff Bagwell remains modest despite all his successes.

"He did not show off," says Ciganek, who was Bagwell's Catholic morality teacher in 11th grade and also served as his counselor. "He was very mild mannered. And he is that way now as an adult."

Today, Bagwell still consults with Ciganek, who arrived at Xavier in 1978 and became the school's principal three years ago, for advice.

"The brothers were great," says Bagwell, a native of Killingworth, Conn. "They were a big influence in my life, and I think a lot of that school. It showed me how to be a man, how to take responsibility for myself and how to do the right things."

Part of his high school education included weekly visits to a local nursing home through a long-running school initiative called the Junior Volunteer program. Bagwell and many of his classmates sat down once a week with elderly members of the community to offer one-on-one company and conversation.

Those closest to Bagwell say the power-hitting righty is still one of the most amiable and loving people they know.

"He is a man of principle, and he lives by the principles he believes in," says Ciganek. "He recalls baseball players who had an impact on his life, and he wants to be like them. I asked him one day how he can tolerate so many requests from children for autographs, and he said to me, 'Brother, we have to worry about the day when they don't want autographs.'"

Today, Bagwell spends as much time as possible speaking with young and old fans alike. His message, as paraphrased by Ciganek, is simple: "I play baseball, but there is so much more you can do to give to the world. This is only my job."

Ciganek believes his former student sees baseball as the primary outlet to reach out to others and positively affect people of all walks of life. According to Xavier's principal, it's something Bagwell would be doing even if he weren't a pro baseball player.

"He would be in some situation where he would be of service to other people in a care-giving profession," says Ciganek. "He would want to help them in some way. He is a very sensitive person, and that allows him to show the depth of himself."

Bagwell has lent his support to Xavier in recent years as the primary beneficiary of an addition to the school.

	Bagwell is "the greatest instinctive baseball player I've seen since Willie Mays," says Astros manager Larry Dierker.

Thanks, in part, to Bagwell's financial generosity, Xavier now boasts four new science labs, a modern dining hall, an all-purpose room, and the shell for a technology center and music room. In addition, an auxiliary gymnasium, new weight room and state-of-the-art locker room now sit on the Xavier campus.

"I understand what my job is," says Bagwell, who was acquired by the Houston Astros from the Boston Red Sox in August 1990. "Jeff Bagwell, the baseball player, goes a lot further than just what I do on the field. I have an image to live up to and a responsibility of little kids looking up to me. I have to live my life a certain way, and that's what I go by every day."

Bagwell first began to showcase his on-the-field abilities to a national audience during his time at the University of Hartford. As a young third baseman with average power but a tremendously quick bat, Bagwell lifted weights religiously, developing the hand strength to turn on an inside pitch like few in baseball could.

The tangible results came instantaneously. Bagwell hit better than .400 in each of his three seasons at Hartford, twice earning Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors.

"He definitely had an aura about him," says Bellino, who also played on the Hartford baseball team. "He was exceptional and better than anybody there, but Jeff got along with everybody. He wasn't critical of people. He did what he did and always gave encouragement to a lot of the younger guys, and they looked up to him."

In his 10-year Major League Baseball career, Bagwell has destroyed most of the Astros' offensive team records. The 1991 N.L. Rookie of the Year and 1994 N.L. MVP owns team career records in home runs (310), RBI (1,093), extra-base hits (683) and walks (992). This past season, he broke the team's single-season home run record with 47. It was his fifth straight season with more than 30 home runs, 100 RBI and 100 runs scored - a feat only seven other players in major league history have achieved.

"He's the greatest instinctive baseball player I've seen since Willie Mays," says Astros manager Larry Dierker, paying the 6-foot, 195-pound Bagwell a mighty big compliment. "He has an intense respect for the game and love for the game and desire to be one of the best in the game. Once the first pitch is thrown, he's wired in until the game is over. That's when he's special."

And yet, it wasn't until he returned home to Connecticut last January for "Jeff Bagwell Day" and watched his No. 9 ascend to the rafters in the Xavier High gymnasium that the four-time All-Star realized just how far he has come - and how surreal success can seem.

"I really don't think I deserve all that. But it's been fun," says Bagwell, who was honored that same day as the Middlesex County (Conn.) Role Model of the Year. "People have been great to me in Connecticut. I always enjoy going back, more to see my mom than anything else.

"But the success I've had seems a little dramatic sometimes, because it's just not real. I'm only playing a game. That's all."