On Friday, the city of Rock Hill bestowed a long-due honor to former mayor Betty Jo Rhea by naming the control tower between the softball fields after her. Rhea was instrumental in getting approval for Cherry Park to be built, and I have a personal reason to be thankful it was.
I had the great fortune of working at Cherry Park for more than 10 years, including its opening in 1985. I have seen some of the best softball players in the world pass through the front gates. I have seen a few youth baseball world series tournaments, worked during Gourmet Gardens and Easter Egg Hunts and other events that weren't quite designed for softball fields but were organized and run to perfection despite the obvious logistical pitfalls.
I have patrolled the trails, visited the shelters and soccer fields, worked the concession stands and announced the ballgames. There are moments I'd like to forget, but for every one of those, there are two I will remember. I met some of my best friends there and learned more than I care to admit from supervisors who I didn't always see eye-to-eye with.
So, I'd like to thank Mrs. Rhea for helping to make Cherry Park a reality. There are other who deserve thanks, too, including Bobby Workman, a longtime umpires supervisor and softball league supervisor who made sure things were run smooth in the park's infancy and also was one of the proponents of the facility. There were dozens of co-workers who did the city proud every time teams from all over the country came in here -- people who worked double shifts in concessions and security. There were maintenance workers who came in at 5 a.m. after a rainy night to make the fields playable and keep the tournaments on time. There were supervisors who dotted all the Is and crossed all the Ts when it came to big events -- and there was no shortage of those.
If it were up to me, they'd all get plaques for making Cherry Park in which one co-worker described several years ago as "The Softball Mecca of the Southeast."
I hope others realize how lucky we are to have such a fine facility in our city.
Cherry Park
I too worked along with John at Cherry Park as one of the first Trail Monitors the park ever had. It was a time in my life that I will never forget! Everyone there was great to work with and I wish we could have some sort of a reunion one day just to catch up! I do want to point out one thing to you John, next time we are announcing games up in the crows nest, if they ever go back to that format, make sure the mic isn't set to the "locked" position while we are talking between coworkers up there!!
Anyway, John, you have your work cut-out for you! Get that reunion set!!
BAllen