Parkwood fielded its first team in 1966 on land previously owned by Fisk University. In 1973, legendary Coach Jerry Hale took the first Dixie Youth integrated baseball team to the Dixie Youth World Series, winning three titles. The community raised the necessary funds to purchase the land, owned by the Sertoma Club, in 1984 making it the only known minority owned sports facility in Tennessee and only one of five in the nation. The Parkwood Board has struggled to maintain the fields without maintenance facilities or additional funds outside of operations to give the youth in District 2 athletic facilities and a community gathering place for educational opportunities.
“When I was growing up in the Bellshire area, where you really went to play baseball on a competitive team and organized league was at Parkwood,” says Charles Starks, president & CEO, Music City Center. “I think it’s really a phenomenal opportunity to support the Parkwood ballfields renovation and something that would just be tragic if we didn’t continue these neighborhood investments.”
“What I remember during my time from being about 9 to 14 years old playing at Parkwood was it was a very community-oriented park, meaning you could run from any field you wanted to and I always felt safe. I always felt like there was a community of people there who cared about my well-being,” remembers Kristy Hairston, regional VP, Compass RE. “There’s an influx of people moving in all the time, but the ability to invest in local Nashville residents will pay dividends years later. So what you’re talking about with an investment into Parkwood is a legacy for a long-standing community.”
1946
The early history of the Parkwood Community Club baseball fields is rooted in the Cumberland Sertoma Club and the Parkwood Men’s Club. Composed of business men who resided in or operated businesses in North Nashville and the Bordeaux area, the new Cumberland Sertoma Club joined the Nashville Club as members of Sertoma International.
1966
The Parkwood Men’s Club formed when then president Pete Stanfield recounted the formation of the first Parkwood baseball league. According to Stanfield, almost 80 boys in the Brick Church School area had expressed an interest in playing baseball. The Parkwood Men’s Club built Parkwood Community Park in response.
Together with Stanfield, Walter “Red” Aldridge, Herschel Nolen, Jimmy Taylor, Kenneth Stromatt, Red Sanders and Rip Ryman leased a piece of property, built a diamond and formed a league of four teams.
The park opened June 11, 1966.
1967
Alexander Bennett Jr. And Albert D. Gray had acquired the property as part of an 81-acre purchase from Fisk University in the 1940s. The Cumberland Sertoma Club purchased the property for $15,000 from the two men and leased it to the Parkwood Men’s Club for $1 per year.
Parkwood Men’s Club and Sertoma Club dedicated Sertoma Park on June 10, 1967. The park did not have lights and the property was so heavily wooded, the city had to build a road to the park area.
The Park hosted 10 teams in a Pee Wee League for boys ages 8 to 12 that year.
1968
Parkwood joined the Dixie Youth Baseball League in 1968, with three leagues, the first in Nashville. At that time, the Dixie Youth Baseball League had teams across nine states with 54 leagues franchised in Tennessee. Dixie Youth Baseball was a white rural baseball franchise.
1970
Parkwood hosted 28 baseball teams and softball for girls. The programs were funded by volunteer workers, $5 membership to Parkwood Men’s Club, donations, concession sales, and collections passed around during games.
1973
Longtime Metro fire fighter Jerry Hale, who was white, became the first Dixie Youth Coach to play African Americans in the Dixie Youth League at Parkwood. As the community changed from white to predominantly black, the Parkwood Dixie team became the only African American franchise in Dixie Youth League. Hale became a legend in Dixie Youth baseball and would take his teams to multiple Dixie Youth League World Series, winning three championships in 1978, 1979, and 1982.
1980
Parkwood Men’s Club recognized Jerry Hale’s dynasty coaching Parkwood teams to the Dixie Youth League’s World Series by naming Hale Field for him. Hale coached at Parkwood until 1984.
1984
The Cumberland Sertoma Club of Nashville abruptly decided to sell the property and gave Parkwood two months to raise the money to purchase the property. The Board, coaches, parents and community members scraped together $10,000 as a down payment and obtained financing to purchase the park. The Parkwood Community Club, Inc., a non-profit organization with a minority led Board, became the only known African-American owned and operated youth sports complex in Tennessee and only one of five in the country.
1990
Parkwood successfully petitioned the National Board of Dixie Youth for a waiver from wearing the Dixie Youth uniform patch, which included the Confederate battle flag. The Parkwood Board voted to have it redesigned.
1994
Parkwood provided baseball diamonds for 25 teams, serving 400-500 kids, ages 5-16 years old.
2019
Parkwood Community Club Board reported approximately 300 kids in their baseball | softball programs. But due to the aging facilities and lack of a maintenance building to maintain the fields and property, participation in the Parkwood baseball|softball programs started declining.
2002
Parkwood Community Club broke ground on a two-story building that would serve as a community center for the Club. Parkwood had about 18 teams and 250-300 kids at that time in the program.
2020
Participation in the Parkwood baseball and softball programs continued to be challenged through the COVID pandemic years. A relationship formed with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville, who had been renting parking space from the Parkwood Community Club to park volunteers while building the adjoining 178 single family home neighborhood Park Preserve. Habitat began discussions with the Parkwood Board, the Parkwood-Haynes-Trinity neighborhood coalition and under the leadership of District 2 Council Woman Kyontze Toombs, this discussion coalesced into a community effort led by Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville to restore the ballfields, establish a 59-acre Metro Park next to the ballfields, and to build 26 affordable Habitat homes in one of Davidson County’s most under resourced districts.
2022
The Nashville Sounds joined the fundraising efforts providing funding and fundraising support, as well as valuable expertise on field restoration, operations governance, and field maintenance.