By James Windell
If a field of dreams could be built in the cornfields of Iowa, why not one on 14th Avenue in South Haven?
And even if Shoeless Joe Jackson doesn’t show up to play on the proposed South Haven Field of Dreams, at least thousands of boys and girls from the area will come and enjoy the remarkable sports complex.
That’s the dream of Jim Horan and his son Justin Horan, who have long recognized the need for more baseball, softball and football fields in South Haven.
“It was midway through last year’s baseball season, and we were struggling to get practice time on a field,” Justin Horan said in a recent conversation with the Beacon that included his father. Jim Horan has in past years coached youth football and Justin currently is a coach for youth baseball. “I remembered it was the same thing when I was a kid – and that was 35 years ago. It’s been the same thing for a long time. So, last year, after one of our games, me and Jim were talking and we both said that we need something else. And it just kind of lit a fire in us to do this.”
Together father and son went to a South Haven Charter Township meeting and then they went to a South Haven Area Recreation Authority (SHARA) meeting. They were given encouragement and support from both entities, although it was clear that neither could fund such an ambitious project.
“They told us that if we could come up with the funds and do the fundraising that we had the rights to do it,” Jim said.
The proposed 30-acre Field of Dreams would consist of four main baseball fields with the possibility of a fifth field to be used for T-ball or batting practice. There would be several batting cages and a Rocket football field. In addition, there would be a large parking lot, bathrooms, a storage building, and a concession stand. Jim and Justin, along with a board they created for the project, have been working with Abonmarche, a multidisciplinary engineering, architecture, surveying, and planning firm headquartered in Benton Harbor.
The Horans estimate that the total cost of the complex as they envision it would be about eight and a half million dollars. To date, more than $600,000 has been spent on the project and they are looking to raise about $750,000 to keep the project moving forward. They say they would like to have at least a couple of baseball diamonds constructed by next Spring.
Money spent so far has come from private donors, and they expect to increase the size of the board backing the project and to engage in more fundraising activities. Jim and Justin said they are exploring “different levels of sponsorship, naming rights of the field, and corporate Funding.”
“We owe a lot of people a lot of gratitude to get us this far,” Jim said. “We want to acknowledge them and recognize that it’s because of them that we have the property and it’s paid for, and we have a lot of infrastructure. But it takes a lot more to get to the next step.”
The Horans emphasize that a sports complex like Field of Dreams is a missing piece of South Haven at present. “If we want our town to grow and try to bring back some of the
families, this is one of the pieces that we need,” said Jim.
Justin adds: “I got nine-year-old twins and I hope someday they can play on these fields.”
For anyone interested in learning more about the project, you can email Jim Horan at jph104@hotmail.com.
