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After years of discussions, deliberations, plans, votes, approvals, fundraising and construction—and much more along the sometimes-difficult path to see a capital project through—the city of Henderson welcomed some 500 residents to the grand opening of the $18.5 million Deaconess Henderson SportsPlex Friday afternoon.
“What a difference it’s going to be for these families and kids to participate on real ballfields,” said former Mayor Steve Austin in remarks before the ribbon cutting.
It was during Austin’s terms that the discussion ramped up to make a long-wanted community need a reality. Austin said it was about seven or so years ago that commissioners first began discussing an athletic complex.
Through the years—and often during the complex’s construction—changes were proposed and approved by the Henderson City Commission, a body that took on the philosophy that it only has one chance to get the sports park right, so it better spend the money to do just that.
At the front of that thought was the benefit it would have for young athletes in the community, including baseball players who’ve long played games on the PCMA fields near Eastgate Shopping Center.
“The Plex,” which is the nickname that the facility has been given, features four youth baseball/softball fields with an artificial turf surface.
An original plan was for the infield areas of the baseball/softball fields to be artificial turf while the outfields would be grass. In the construction process, current City Manager Dylan Ward came to the city commission to ask for the approval of a change order for the outfields to also be turfed, thus allowing to play games more quickly after rains, among other reasons.
The Plex also includes a football/soccer field that can also be used for other sports, such as lacrosse. This field is also turfed.
And there are two large grassy areas that will be converted in the future. At least one of the grassy areas will in the future be converted into two more turfed multipurpose fields.
Also, teams in the Western Kentucky Soccer Academy will utilize one of the grassy areas for practice. Soccer players Jack Monroe and John Murray spoke at the ceremony. Monroe said for years the group had to search for any patch of open grass it could find to practice on.
“We finally have an incredible sports complex in our own backyard,” Monroe said.
Former City Manager Buzzy Newman said in a previous interview that $15.5 million of the funding to pay for the $18 million-plus facility came from bonding. That left some $3 million to be found through fundraising, selling naming rights and partnerships.
One partnership was with county government. Fiscal Court last year agreed to fund the lighting at The Plex at a cost of about $1 million.
County Judge-Executive Brad Schneider, a former middle infielder at the University of Evansville, said facilities like The Plex allow young people to participate on teams, learning cooperation and collaboration as he did when he was young. He said the latest example of cooperation and collaboration between the city and county governments is the lighting that the county is paying for.
“It looks fantastic,” Schneider said, and will serve young athletes for “decades and decades to come.”
According to a city press release, the fields and amenities currently at The Plex are just the beginning. The current 65-acre complex will grow over time to include additional sports amenities, said the release.
“The Deaconess Henderson SportsPlex is a significant step forward in our commitment to enhancing the quality of life for our residents and fostering a healthy, active community,” said Mayor Brad Staton. “The Plex provides our youth with the opportunity to play, compete and build lifelong memories while bringing economic development to our area through tourism, events and local partnerships.”
All photos by Debbie Scott
