THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 29, 1996 TAG: 9608300808
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 35 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, COMPASS SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: 102 lines
DENNIS RICHARDSON doesn't know this story is about him. If he did, he probably wouldn't object, but neither would he want the kind of attention and praise that many of his friends and colleagues at Naval Base Little League feel he deserves.
Richardson, 49, has been the league's president for the past six years, but he isn't the kind of prez who sits in a cushy chair delegating the grunt work. He's the grunt. Over the years, Richardson has mowed grass, killed bees, turned off lights in the middle of the night, mollified testy parents and raised money, lots of money, to keep 1,000 of the city's boys and girls in baseball and softball uniforms.
``He gets the calls when the lights are accidentally left on, and he gets the call at midnight when some parent is steamed over something,'' says his wife, Temple.
Richardson also was the architect who designed Fleet Park, the city's best youth baseball complex, which opened more than two years ago. Last Sunday, the folks at Naval Base and Wards Corner Little Leagues, the two groups that share the complex, met there to celebrate the retirement and burning of a bank note that Richardson and 19 others signed at Heritage Bank when they came up short in collecting funds to build the $900,000 project.
Fleet Park was partially funded by $450,000 from Norfolk's 1994 Capital Improvement Project Budget. Richardson and 19 others committed to the project signed a bank note for that amount agreeing to be responsible for paying back the money if they couldn't raise it. Now, nearly three years later, sales of T-shirts, additional grants and concession proceeds have pared down that note to zero without one cent coming from any of their pockets.
``We started with no money, we owed money, and somehow we pulled it off,'' said Sandy Harris, league treasurer. ``And a lot of that we owe to Dennis.''
Though he did not know it until he arrived, Richardson was the guest of honor at Sunday's ceremony at the park. He is retiring as the board's president but not leaving Little League behind. He plans to coach his youngest son, 10-year-old David, and continue enjoying the sport that he grew up playing.
Richardson's involvement with area Little League developed largely because of Operation Desert Storm. Before the Gulf War, Navy dads ran the show, but just about everybody involved with Naval Base Little League was deployed once the Persian Gulf War started. Richardson and Harris were part of a group of parents that didn't want to see Little League become a war casualty, so they formed a board of directors and began making plans. Richardson was drafted into the presidency.
``Dennis stepped into a void,'' Harris said. ``I think he had the drive and the personality to make things work.''
What wasn't working was the fields that the two leagues shared. Richardson had seen the diamonds in Virginia Beach and wanted Norfolk to have a similar first-class complex. He was frustrated that participants had to hassle with security checkpoints because the field was on the Norfolk Naval Base, and the grounds were a mess. Harris said the poorly maintained fields reminded him of the old sandlots he used to play on in New York City. The restrooms were dirty, and the concession stand was falling apart.
``There was no air conditioner and one fan,'' said Martha Colen, who now handles public relations for the Naval Base league. ``You'd hope you had enough ice for the sodas.''
Richardson not only dreamed of a new park, he designed it. As director of design and construction at Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, he had the know-how for architecture and layout, and he was instrumental in contacting key officials to pique the city's interest. And like the 19 others who signed the note, he went to bat for the money when that became a stumbling block.
``From the floor up, he oversaw construction,'' Temple Richardson says. ``A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into it.''
At times, Richardson was the one with a bulldozer directing builder Steve Ballard around. He motivated other parents to help as well. ``No matter how early you got here, the man was already here and wondering where you were,'' says parent Bill Jones.
Ballard, a Little League coach and owner of S.B. Ballard Construction Co., agreed to build the complex at cost, and the end result was just what Richardson and the others had wished for. On April 9, 1994, Norfolk Tides manager Bobby Valentine christened the complex, which includes six fields, a two-story concession stand with a meeting room and kitchenette on the second floor, expanded parking and easier access from Hampton Boulevard. Today, Fleet Park is regarded as one of the finest complexes in the region, and locally, 1,000 kids are playing ball there.
``Dennis was the force that got it down,'' Colen said. ``He brought all the elements together.''
And since opening day, Richardson has continued to be that force. Whether it's mowing the grass on Sunday mornings or repairing everything that breaks, his is the number that gets dialed.
``You name it. Hiring umpires, fixing tractors, dealing with coaches,'' Temple Richardson says. ``Sometimes he has to have the level head to go over and tell a coach, `You're acting inappropriately.' ''
And his friends on Sunday just wanted to say thanks, so as a surprise for him, after they burned the bank note, they ``roasted'' Richardson. Among the gag gifts: a ring with a collection of keys for all those lost in the past six years, and a T-shirt reading, ``Old presidents don't die. They just coach.''
Richardson is modest about it all. ``I've been known to ride a tractor,'' he says.
But Colen is not reticent about his role.
``He made our dream a reality.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CANDICE CUSIC
Dennis Richardson, president of the Naval Base Little League, holds
a mock mortgage during a note-burning ceremony Sunday at Fleet
Park. The bank note for $450,000 has been paid off, and Richardson's
friends ``roasted'' him for his tireless efforts. by CNB