BY MICHAEL BOOTH
GAZETTE-TIMES REPORTER | Posted: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 12:00 am
First goal at Boys & Girls' Club: Perfect baseball fields
Don Wonsley pushed his own 22-inch lawnmower over four baseball infields Tuesday, huffing and perspiring from the exertion, despite the cool weather. The Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis, where Wonsley is the athletic director, owns a tractor that's just fine for trimming the outfield grass. But Wonsley envisioned perfection for the infield.
"I'm a vision guy," Wonsley said as he looked around the ball fields across from Cheldelin Middle School. "I see outdoor lights, scoreboards and bleachers out here." He's looking for the perfect baseball diamond.
Although perfection isn't easy to accomplish when you're looking for funds in a nonprofit organization, it doesn't faze him. He's worked with limited funds before.
Wonsley, 46, was a coach and athletic director at a private school in Molalla before moving his family to Corvallis three years ago so that his wife, Joan, could accept a job at Crescent Valley High School. Wonsley went to work as the athletic director for the Boys & Girls Club in Lebanon, and then transferred to Corvallis when the position opened up here in October.
"The only thing that can slow me down is finances," Wonsley said. "But I don't intend to let that stop me."
Wonsley sought out business owners and people with technical skills. He told them he had a plan for reviving the club's Junior Baseball Organization that started with refurbishing the club's four ball fields across from Cheldelin.
"Lots of good people, who wanted to help, stepped up," Wonsley said.
Ken Reynolds of Reynolds Farm in Corvallis donated a ton of grass seed.
Jeff Johnson of B Johnson Turf and Irrigation gave generously of his time, equipment and expertise to help Wonsley replace the irrigation system.
"Jeff was here last week for three hours to help us find the irrigation box," Wonsley said.
Wonsley said he wants the kids who use the club to have the best equipment and play on the best fields. He wants them to look back when they are adults on the positive experiences they had at the club, and how they felt good about themselves - and how it made a difference to them. When that happens, Wonsley said he hopes, those young people will be inspired to give something back to the Boys & Girls Club - as he was after he put on his first set of football pads for a Boys & Girls Club team.
"My dad was in the Navy," Wonsley said. "I sought out the Boys & Girls Club everywhere we moved. I grew up in it."
Now Wonsley's four children are growing up with the club's influence, also. His sons, Jacob, Josh and Caleb, and daughter, Cara, range in grades from six to 12. They have all chipped in some time to help their dad at the field.
"Josh is our irrigation expert," Wonsley said.
Jacob, a senior at Crescent Valley High School, hopes to play baseball at George Fox University next year. All his kids are three-sport athletes.
Wonsley is getting the fields ready for local teams, but also for regional tournaments. The club will play host July 24 to July 27 to the senior American division state tournament for the 13- to 14-year-old age bracket of the Junior Baseball Organization.
The qualifying Benton County tournament will take place the weekend before the state tournament.
Despite the fact that Wonsley just finished a stint of 38 straight days of work on the fields to prepare them for the tournaments, he beams at the thought of accomplishing the improvements, and he is quick to point out that he's had help along the way.
Sometimes, however, Wonsley's content to go it alone, pushing for perfection on a field of green.