A league of their own Mounds, Ill., builds diamond for baseball

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Little League dad Gene Kennedy burst into the hardware store. The town's first game was about to start at the new ball park and the umpires had nothing to clean home plate. The store owner handed him a paint brush, no charge.

People are chipping in however they can for the new league and lighted diamond, which some say are bringing hope and summertime fun to a town where both are scarce.

"It's going to give us a nice boost," said Mike Khourie, who owns an auction house next to the store. "It'll help the economy, the kids and the rest of us."

The place could use some help. Mounds is among the poorest towns in the state, according to census figures released last month.

Jobs on the nearby Ohio and Mississippi rivers, on the railroad and in the fruit orchards have dried up over the last half-century, sending many to seek work elsewhere and leaving behind those with few options.

"Our enemies here are apathy, hopelessness and defeat-ism," said Dan Prigge, who heads an economic development group in Pulaski County.

The county's population has dropped by about half over the last 60 years, he said. The median income in Mounds -- the county's largest town, with 1,100 people -- is around the federal poverty line of $17,000 a year for a family of four.

Many families either didn't have the time or the money to make the 10-mile trip to Olmsted, where the closest Little League had been since the old school diamond closed in Mounds more than 20 years ago.

Surprised by response

Kennedy, an avid baseball fan, wanted to bring the sport back to his hometown. He thought he would sign enough $600 sponsorships for one or two teams when he and friends hatched a plan last year to start the league.

To their surprise, they found enough sponsors among the churches, businesses and other groups they canvassed to support 13 teams. It was enough to sign up more than 200 boys and girls from ages 3 to 18. Most live in Mounds; the rest are from nearby villages.

"People were starved for something positive," said Kennedy, 35, an insurance salesmen who also coaches his son's team.

They also got the $55,000 needed to build the new ball park from the Southernmost Illinois Delta Empowerment Zone, the agency that distributes grants and loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to boost the economy and improve the quality of life in the area.

Pulaski and most of Alexander and Johnson counties were designated an empowerment zone in 1999. The agency has distributed about $4 million for dozens of projects ranging from cleaning up vacant lots to converting an old school to a community center, director Donna Raynalds said.

"We want to build communities, and when people start to see things change, success breeds success," she said.

The city donated use of the land and diverted its own empowerment-zone grant earmarked for sidewalks to the project.

"Sidewalks can wait," said Mayor Grace Richards. "But the kids need something to do this summer."

Until now, about the only thing to do in Mounds was play basketball on a run-down court or games at a small playground. There are no summer day camps, the closest public swimming pool is 30 miles away and many kids turn up their noses at the idea of swimming in the rivers. Too many snakes.

"Last summer I went fishing and hunting and took my pellet gun and busted out windows, mostly of abandoned cars, anything I could find," said Reuben Bellamy, 11.

These days, Reuben gets up early to play catch and prepare for his team's daily practice.

The bleachers quickly filled June 3 for the home opener at the nearly completed field, which has a cinderblock concession stand, dugouts, bleachers, fenced backstop and a freshly painted infield.

Before the first player took the batter's box, more than 100 people crowded behind the backstop, most on lawn chairs. They let out a collective "Ah!" when the lights came on at dusk.