An innovation conceived by Ewing Kauffman, the franchise's original owner, the goal was to develop quality athletes into major-league-caliber ballplayers for the organization.
The academy was dedicated on March 21, 1971, with Kauffman, Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn and American and National League presidents Joe Cronin and Chub Feeney in attendance.
They were Bill Fischer, Joe Gordon, Tommy Henrich, Steve Korcheck, Jim Lemon, Johnny Neun and Chuck Stobbs.
Among the other members of the faculty, two were from the sport of track and field – Wes Santee and onetime University of Kansas coach Bill Easton.
In February 1970, Thrift asked high school coaches from around the United States to recommend boys who were both fine athletes regardless of sport and interested in attending the academy.
They also got transportation to Sarasota, dormitory accommodations, three diet‐planned meals a day, health and life insurance, emergency dental care and a round‐trip plane ticket home for the Christmas holiday, all at the team's expense.