Jasper's field among best in area
By GEORGIA PURDY Newsboy Correspondent

Newsboy photo/Georgia Purdy WITH A LOT OF HARD WORK, Jasper's baseball field is considered one of the best in the area.

Jasper Head Baseball Coach Shawn Mixon stands near second base. The infield is a lush this time of year- emerald green with winter rye grass. He stoops and picks up a tiny scrap of litter, something blown in by the wind.

"You see this stuff?" he says to the players who are hauling new sand to the baseline, "I want all of it picked up."

The entire complex is immaculate. The outfield looks as pristine as the infield. The bleachers are clean. The lines are perfectly straight and the sand-separating infield from outfield is raked.

"Anytime you see Mixon down on his hands and knees out there, he's checking for weeds or mole crickets," Assistant Coach Steve Smith said. "He's a perfectionist when it comes to that field."

But that is understandable when one looks at the history of the field the Bulldogs now call home. And no one knows that history better than Steve Smith.

"We started working on this field in the fall of 1994 when Mike Rogers was head coach," Smith said. "At that time we played on the field south of there. This one was so bad; we hated to even come over here for practice. We started working on upgrading it in September of 1994, so our first season on this field was the spring of 1995."

Jasper's facility is unique in that it is leased from the Jasper Youth Baseball Association. That meant getting approval from the association in order to do any substantial work.

"Coach Rogers drew up a set of plans for the park," Smith said. "He and I got together to cost it out, to see what it would cost and the dimensions needed for a high school field. Then we got approval from the association to do the upgrade."

Getting approval was the easy part. Getting the money, the material and the manpower was an act of faith, for there was those who said the project couldn't be done.

"There was doubt from some local groups that we could accomplish this," Smith said. "They said it couldn't be done. That was the best thing they could have said because it lit a fire for us to see that it happened."

Smith and Rogers started to work. The first thing they did was to cut down the old backstop and move it back. They also solicited help from parents and local businesses.

"We also got help from the county and local businesses," Smith said. "The county didn't do the dirt work but they helped hauled it. Big 3 Construction, owned by Jimmy Ethridge, and Mathews Construction (Larry and Ace Mathews) did the actual dirt work. That was more than 300 loads of dirt and a dump truck load of dirt is at least 12 yards. That's what it took to get that field to playing surface- getting it to grade."

The work also included replacing the light poles and adding new lights.

"Louisiana Pacific took down the old light poles and put up new ones," he said. "We used existing lights plus bought new ones. They didn't charge us a time. After we got the dirt work done and the poles set, a lot of businesses pitched in."

Businesses donated money and materials and parents rolled up their sleeves. They built bleachers, dugouts, roofs, fences and planted grass.

"It was built by the community after we got the ball rolling," Smith said. "So many people helped, too many to name them all. The main part of the field was built primarily by four dads and two coaches. There were four parents who stayed out there working until sometimes two o'clock in the morning: Joe Allen, Financial Officer of First National Bank, Jim Harris, Vice President of First National Bank, Billy Platt who owns a lawn service, and Robert Wilson from Temple Inland (now Campbell Group). We worked like that from September until the end of January."

Smith and Rogers were teaching and Rogers was coaching football since it was fall. But they would be there at night even after other events.

"I can remember Coach Rogers coaching late at a football game and then coming by and working until after midnight," Smith said.

In the years since the fall of 1994, many people have contributed to upgrading the facility to the beautiful park fans see today.

"There was another group of dads who built the club house and we've had various projects over the years," Smith said. "

Even students shared in the work. Smith, who is a construction trades teacher at Jasper High School, put his students to work as part of their curriculum.

The yearly fund-raising banquet began shortly after the initial renovation.

"It is a way to raise money to improve the facility every year and each year we have done that," Smith said. "We've enlarged the dugouts, built an indoor hitting facility, a storage building, a 2,000 squarefoot club house and weight room, and a brick wall around part of the field. These are $20,000 to $30, 000 expenses. We've bought lawn mowers and field maintenance machines. We raise our own money. The school doesn't buy for us."

Smith said that much of the material was donated. Temple Inland donated the outfield fence. LP donated the material for bleachers and an oil company donated the steel structures for the bleachers and the fencing.

Every business we contacted donated," he said. "It was unbelievable how the community got on board."

Later, Coach Rogers moved on to another job and Shawn Mixon became the head coach six years ago, but the work didn't stop and many of the improvements have been made since he arrived.

"When Coach Mixon came, he continued the hard work just like Rogers did," Smith said. "He's been here six years and he's out there working year-round."

Smith can also trace the team's success, as it seems to parallel the renovation and community support for the team.

"The year before we started the facility renovation, we made the playoffs," he said. "Since that time, we've been in the playoffs for 14 straight years, won several district championships and bi-district; and of course, last year we won our first state championship."

Smith jokes about Mixon's obsession with the condition of the field, his constantly looking for mole crickets and weeds, checking how the grass is growing and picking up every scrap that doesn't belong there. In addition, he says that he pressures Mixon to keep winning.

"I'm putting a lot of pressure on Coach Mixon," he says, "I'm putting pressure on him to make sure we aren't the first team NOT to make the playoffs."

No matter how far the Bulldogs advance in play, the baseball park is a facility that oozes pride. It is still a work in progress where there is always something to do, to fix, to maintain. And the people who have had a hand in that can be proud. After all, their sweat equity has produced the project that 'couldn't be done.'