Story by Paul South
Submitted photos
As backhoes rumble and workers toil to bring a new sportsplex to life near the banks of the Coosa, no one could blame leaders of the City of Gadsden and Gadsden State Community College if they borrowed a line from a Hollywood classic:
“If you build it, they will come.”
But the new multimillion dollar project – softball and baseball fields, running track, even a Miracle League field for athletes with disabilities – won’t see the appearance of “Moonlight” Graham, “Shoeless Joe” Jackson or Jackson’s 1919 Chicago Black Sox teammates from Field of Dreams.
Instead, the City of Gadsden and GSCC have teamed up on the project, in hopes of hitting an economic grand slam for the city through big crowds flocking to the area for tournaments, for the college through increased visibility and in turn, a hoped-for rise in student enrollment.
“This is a long-term partnership between the city and the college,” Gadsden Public Affairs Coordinator Michael Rodgers said. “They are an important part of the community, and they’ve got some great things going for them.”
Phase 1 of the project – three NCAA-regulation multipurpose athletic fields – has been completed on the former site of the aquaculture pond. Those fields can also be scaled down to accommodate youth sports like soccer, according to Rodgers. A lighted walking trail, concession and restroom facilities and parking are included.
In Phase 2, four existing athletic fields will be renovated and improved. Phase 3 will be the Miracle League Park, where the quiet courage of athletes with disabilities will be louder than the crack of the bat.
The first three phases will total approximately $16 million, with phase three expected to be complete around late spring of 2023. Additional phases will likely occur if the next administration chooses to expand the Park.Work has been slowed by the coronavirus pandemic and accompanying supply-chain issues.The sportsplex is a new chapter in the longstanding partnership between the city and GSCC. The college was founded in 1925 as the Alabama College of Trades. The present-day institution is the result of a merger between the Alabama Technical College, Gadsden State Technical Institute, Gadsden State Junior College and Harry M. Ayers State Technical College. The school now has an enrollment of more than 4,000 students.
GSCC President Dr. Kathy Murphy hopes the project will grow the student roster in tandem with the resurrection of Cardinals baseball, women’s softball and the beginning of a cross-country program.
Cardinals softball and baseball will resume play in 2024. Baseball was shuttered at GSCC in 2011. Softball was discontinued in 2016.
“The opportunity to have the sports complex located on our campus allows people to come to our campus. So first of all, it’s an opportunity for visibility for our college.”
Land for the project comes through a lease agreement between the city and the college. While GSCC provides land and infrastructure, the city provides funding. It’s an example of cooperation and financial stewardship between the partners.
“We understand taxpayers’ money and that they expect us all to be savvy,” Murphy said. “When we think about being savvy, replicating facilities doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. So, the fact that the softball complex will be on our campus … and the fact that the city is going to allow Gadsden State to use one of those renovated fields that they are designing and building as we speak, is going to be exceptionally beneficial to our college.”
Murphy added that while the project property belongs to the college, the city has made the investment in improvement of those fields and the complex.
The fruits of that teamwork between the school and the city create “positive metrics,” says Murphy.
And as for the resurrection of baseball and softball and the expansion of athletics, Murphy believes it is critical to enhance overall student experience and growing the student body.
“We want to increase our enrollment,” she said. “We have many great athletes in our community and in our region and the service area that Gadsden State has here. We want to give those students the ability to continue their athletic career here, and also to come to Gadsden State, where they’ll receive a quality education and be able to continue their academic and athletic careers forward from here if they choose.”
As far as the benefit to the city, Etowah and surrounding counties, youth-sports-related tourism means an economic win, with booked hotel rooms, packed restaurants and crowded stores.
And it dovetails with a three-pronged economic development strategy of tourism, service sector jobs and industrial growth.
“When you bring people to town for whatever reason, they will spend money here, which stimulates the local economy and supports local businesses … That’s sort of the same idea that we used when developing Coosa Landing,” Rodgers said.
Too, the complex will bring more visitors to Noccalula Falls and surrounding river attractions, like the Venue at Coosa Landing, a multipurpose development on the river. As the crow flies, the sports complex is 1.5 miles downriver from Coosa Landing.
The bottom line? The riverfront development effort – from new construction to stocking Noccaula Falls with rainbow trout – aims to turn the Gadsden area into a tourist destination and to enhance the quality of life for locals.
“It’s both something for the community and also to benefit the community as far as bringing people to Gadsden, because this is a facility where we will be able to schedule some of our youth games. Part of the goal is to have a top-of-the-line facility to bring in some statewide tournaments, whether that is soccer, softball or whatever,” Rodgers said.
“It’s also accessible to I-759. It’s easy to get to. So, the longer-term plan is to get this out there to allow us to recruit some of these major traveling statewide sporting events.”
Another benefit will be a healthier community, Murphy said. Alabama lags behind the rest of the nation in the health of its citizens.
“I want to believe that the sports complex will make a difference in the health and wellness of our community as more people get out and exercise and participate in soccer or softball, or baseball, or whatever they choose to do in our sports complex,” Murphy said.
There’s also a larger benefit when considering the long-range impact of cooperative ventures like the sports complex. Borrowing again from James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams: “This field, this game, can remind us of all that once was good, and can be again.”
Murphy put it in a practical context, fitting in these divided days. “We have got to begin to demonstrate to the world how we find solutions together; how we take our resources, and the city takes its resources, and how do we put those resources together and create something better than we were separately.”
