The Kanawha County Parks Commission had searched everywhere to find funding to resurface the turf at Schoenbaum Field.
Parks board president Allen Tackett had been turned away by the governor's office and the University of Charleston. The one school that pledged to raise $50,000, Charleston Catholic, was struggling to come up with the money.
But in the end, all it took was a newspaper article and a phone call.
Upon reading that the parks board was struggling to come up with money to replace the turf, Betty Schoenbaum, one half of the field's namesake, figured she might be able to help.
She called County Commissioner Dave Hardy and Tackett and told them that she had around $200,000 tucked away with the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation. She promised to have them give that money to the parks board if the Kanawha County Commission donated about $100,000 to meet the $300,000 needed. "Once we get the field re-done, we're going to do a video of the new field and rededicate the field in her honor," Tackett said.
They'll send that video to Schoenbaum, who can't make the trip to West Virginia when the field is finished.
Now that the parks will have the money for the field, Tackett said that he will put Charleston Catholic on a payment plan so they'll pay $10,000 a year over the next 10 years - a more manageable option for the school, which was having trouble coming up with $50,000.
In other news, a golf cart was stolen from Coonskin Park over Mother's Day weekend.
The cart cost about $1,000 and parks police have not been able to find it. They don't know if it's still in the park, or if the people who stole it drove it away.
The theft has contributed to the conversation of adding security cameras to parks to help prevent crime.
According to parks police, more "criminal activity" has taken place over April and May then took place all last year. The police think that easier access in from the new bridge may be a contributing factor.
All the good weather in April has been met with rain in May, which has slowed golfing down at both Big Bend and Coonskin. But according to Dave Pope, a member of the board, the updates to Big Bend Golf Course have gone over well.
"The guys that are using it the most are happy," Pope said.
The parks board had hoped to paint lines in the newly paved parking lot, but they need five days without rain so that they can get the job done. The rain also has slowed the resurfacing of the tennis courts in the park.
The tennis center will be the headquarters of the YMCA's "Camp Coonskin" summer camp.
The YMCA will be managing the pool at Coonskin again this summer. Water was already filling the pool Wednesday and it will be open to the public May 28.
At the end of the meeting, Margaret Zaleski, a member of the public who regularly attends the commission's meetings, asked Parks Director Jeff Hutchinson if the park officials could put in a basketball net in one of the parking lots for kids to shoot on.
"The problem with a basketball hoop is that you get a different element coming in and they bring pit bulls," Hutchinson replied.
When asked to clarify his comments, Hutchinson referenced some of the problems that the parks system had with Shawnee Park in Dunbar, where people would break the rims on the hoops and would bring pit bulls to the park.
"Everybody thinks it's going to be for little kids, and the kids will use it, but that isn't what happens," Hutchinson said. "What happens is you get 22- and 23-year-old men come in and they start dunking and breaking the rims and blaring their music. You get fights."
Hutchinson said he was referring to the streetball culture, which often results in dirtier play because of the lack of referees.
"When people are playing streetball and calling their own fouls, they will fight," Hutchinson said.
When asked if he was referring to a specific race, Hutchinson said he was referring to young men, not a race.
"It doesn't matter if it's 10 black guys or 10 white guys or 10 Indian guys," Hutchinson said. "They will fight."
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.