{"id":3781,"date":"2009-11-28T10:56:35","date_gmt":"2009-11-28T17:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=3781"},"modified":"2009-11-28T10:56:35","modified_gmt":"2009-11-28T17:56:35","slug":"kelso-couple-donates-150000-for-softball-field-makeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=3781","title":{"rendered":"Kelso couple donates $150,000 for softball field makeover"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\n(click banner for original news story)<\/em>
\nBy Rick McCorkle<\/em><\/p>\n

The days of tenuous cinderblock dugouts and leaning fences will soon be a thing of the past for the girls playing softball at Tam O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Shanter Park in Kelso.<\/p>\n

The softball section of the park is getting a major overhaul, thanks to Kelso native David Heerensperger and his wife, Jill. The couple recently donated $150,000 to the city of Kelso to convert one of the softball fields at Tam O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Shanter Park into a stadium similar to the Stan Rister Stadium baseball field located at the front of the park.<\/p>\n

In the late 1940s, a young Heerensperger played Little League baseball at Tam O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Shanter Park.<\/p>\n

As he got older, Heerensperger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interest shifted to playing men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch softball and later sponsoring area teams. After graduating from Kelso High in 1954, he embarked on a business career that included buying and selling billion-dollar businesses and owning race horses.<\/p>\n

With all of his business dealings, he never forgot his hometown roots.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When we came to Kelso for David\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s class reunion, we went to find his mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grave and couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t locate it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Jill Heerensperger said by phone from their winter home in Arizona. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We wanted to do something in memory of his mother (Leona Bailey Heerensperger), and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where the idea came from.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

David Heerensperger declined to comment on the donation or the project.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll wait until it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done because you never know what could happen along the way,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of loose ends yet, and I want to see that things get done in the proper way.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Heerensperger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s foray into the business world shows he likes to get things moving. His dealings began in Longview in 1959 when businessmen Stan Thurman and Bob Grover of T&T Electric set him up in a store in Spokane called Eagle Electric and Plumbing. In 1969, T&T and Eagle, along with Heerensperger, was acquired by Pay \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcN Pak, which was founded by Thurman. A year later, a rift developed between Thurman, Heerensperger and another longtime T&T employee, John Headley, and Thurman left the group.<\/p>\n

Heerensperger developed Eagle Hardware and Garden, and later retired as the chief executive officer of both Pay \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcN Pak and Eagle. He sold Eagle to Lowe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Home Improvement Warehouse for an estimated $1 billion, and later founded the Bellevue-based World Lighting.<\/p>\n

In addition, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also part-owner of the Emerald Downs horse race track in Auburn and Woods Creek Farm in Bellevue. His interest in horses started in the late 1970s when he and his wife purchased a trip to the Kentucky Derby at a charity auction. They later bought horses which ran and placed in the Breeder\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Cup and Kentucky Derby<\/p>\n

Heerensperger also dabbled in hydroplane racing as owner of the Pay \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcn Pak and Miss Eagle Electric boats, and was the first Unlimited class owner to win a race with turbine power in 1982.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This guy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a real go-getter,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kelso Parks and Recreation Director Tim Mackin said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He used to sponsor men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch teams, and softball was an easy gift for him when he realized the fields were more than 30 years old with tilting fences and old wooden bleachers.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The cinder block dugouts used by hundreds of teams though the years will also be replaced.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When a couple of volunteers came in and took the roof off one of the dugouts, the sides collapsed,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mackin said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll also get new dugouts along with fencing, a backstop, new irrigation system for the field and bleachers to seat 500 people. There will also be a plaza where you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll walk through a gate to get in, like at Stan Rister Stadium.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The stadium will enable the Kelso Girls Softball Association to bid on major weekend summer tournaments, including state championships in different age levels.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153An average of 40-50 teams will play in a four-day tournament, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about $150,000 in revenue for area businesses,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d KGSA treasurer John Reichert said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is the second phase of a project we started a few years ago to upgrade the fields at the park.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The first phase of the park improvement project was construction of a building for the group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clubhouse, restrooms and storage.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We applied to the city for money to rebuild the restrooms,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Reichert said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153With a combination of volunteer help, donations of materials and funding from the city and KGSA, we were able to complete the project.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Reichert said the group needs to raise about $40,000 to upgrade the other softball field adjacent to the new stadium.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If we can get the money raised soon, we can get the supplies needed at the same time as for the other field so we can purchase at a discount,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

In addition to KYSA, the Lower Columbia College softball team which also plays its home games at Tam O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Shanter Park, will benefit from the field renovation.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a big bonus for me being the coach of the team because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really hard, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to take just whatever the league can provide for us as far as the field,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mackin said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The college provides a rental fee for its use of the field because they have no field on campus.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Reichert said the field work is scheduled to be completed by March 1 when LCC begins its season.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to have a celebration when the field is opened but we haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t picked a date yet,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153KGSA has its kickoff tournament in mid-April, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to tie the celebration in with the beginning of our season.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(click banner for original news story) By Rick McCorkle The days of tenuous cinderblock dugouts and leaning fences will soon be a thing of the past for the girls playing softball at Tam O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Shanter Park in Kelso. The softball section of the park is getting a major overhaul, thanks to Kelso native David Heerensperger and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3781"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}