A dusty field dotted with sprouts of grass and weeds brought smiles to a lot of faces Wednesday in College Station.
The crowd that gathered for the dedication of a new baseball complex along Frazier Pike Road didn't seem to notice that although it was only 9 a.m., the summer sun was already beating down and the temperature was climbing into the upper 80s.
They clapped, cheered and exchanged hugs as Dexter Doyne yanked a cloth cover off a gleaming black marker, newly embedded in the earth, that serves as a shrine to the resilience of a community that was devastated by a tornado 21 years ago.
The March 1, 1997, tornado that was one of a dozen storms that resulted in 25 deaths across the state not only destroyed houses and claimed lives in the small Pulaski County community, but it obliterated the ball field that was the home of the championship-winning youth baseball team.
Lovell Smith, who has coached the team for 50 years, and in whose honor the College Station Community Sports Complex was dedicated, was cheered by the crowd as he acknowledged the fulfillment of a dream that began as soon as the previous ball field, a short distance down the road, was destroyed.
Since that time, Smith has remained undeterred, continuing to coach the team using a borrowed field in Little Rock's Interstate Park and winning four of the past five championships.
He planned to christen the new baseball diamond Wednesday evening by pitting his two teams of youths, who are grouped by age, against a group of adults that included several of the youths' parents and grandparents -- whom he coached as children.
It wasn't a coincidence that the new sports complex, now only in its early stages, was dedicated on Independence Day, marking years of slow but steady perseverance led by the Progressive League of College Station. The civic organization started 65 years ago by Annie Mae Bankhead also acts as the governing body of the part of College Station that is an incorporated town.
"This is a culmination of many years of hard work by this community," said Austin Porter Jr., a Little Rock attorney who has been president of the league for 20 years. "We just thank God this came to fruition."
That hard work took many forms. Doyne, a Progressive League member who is also the president and chief executive officer of Doyne Construction Co. in North Little Rock, said a $240,000 grant from the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism required the community to come up with another $240,000 in matching funds to create a regulation-size baseball field complete with dugouts, bullpens, perimeter fencing, bleachers that seat about 100 people, an asphalt parking lot, landscaping and irrigation.
The matching funds were contributed through a team effort that included kids selling popcorn and peanuts; a community fundraiser in 2016 to honor the Rev. Hezekiah Stewart, who was present at the ribbon-cutting ceremony; money from the state's General Improvement Fund that former state Rep. Wilma Walker passed on to the community; and a $25,000 grant from the 3M Co.
The plaque sitting between the parking lot and the ball field names major sponsors as the Progressive League, the Parks and Tourism Department and Pulaski County Administrative Services.
It lists Tanya O'Donohue and Bob Rogers as the elite platinum sponsor, and it lists 12 platinum sponsors including Garver LLC, the Porter Law Firm, Morris Foundation Inc., Carson and Janet Harris, Dexter and Angela Doyne, the Little Rock Port Authority, John and Penny Burkhalter, Naaman and Tamara Kelley, E. Ray and Fredlesha Barnes Sr., Lexicon Management Group Inc., and Andrew Griffin Masonry Co. Inc.
But there is more to come. Fundraising has now begun for Phase II of the project, which will add a concession stand, restrooms, a scoreboard and ball field lighting.
Doyne said the community team, which is part of the Little Rock League, now has its own practice field and can again sponsor home games. Even before the tornado, he said, "It was nothing like this. It was just a backstop and four bases."
The community has already rebuilt its civic center next to the old ball field.
Asked what the sports complex means to the community, he said: "It means a revitalization. It means that we're back to even better than we were before. It's a rejuvenation, and we're just thankful to God and our supporters."
With that, Doyne and the dozens of others turned toward Frazier Pike, also known as Sloane Drive, to begin the 38th annual College Station Homecoming Parade to the community center. The parade was led by Stewart, the grand marshal, who rode in a black BMW convertible with two women twirling sun umbrellas perched on top.
Metro on 07/05/2018