By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The Rockford Park District was awarded a $2.8 million state grant this week to help fund plans to revamp Clarence Hicks Memorial Sports Park with an artificial turf field, stadium seating, an eight-lane running track and other improvements.
The new features coming to the 77-acre park at 2004 Ogilby Road on the city’s southwest side also include a throw and jump event area for track and field, a parking lot with solar lights and new landscaping. The stadium will have bleacher seating for 1,000 people.
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“I had a vision years ago and came to the Rockford Park District looking for some space to start a flag football program and provide a place where kids could connect with great mentors and leaders,” said Lamont Jones, general manager of Clarence Hicks park and youth sports outreach. “Clarence Hicks Memorial Sports Park is exactly what I dreamed of years ago. This is going to be an amazing sports facility that will unite youth, teens and families with their common love of play and provide a permanent home for football, soccer, lacrosse, track and field programming and much more.”
Other improvements the park district previously made since 2017 include new scoreboards, signs, fencing, bleachers, an asphalt path, turf playground surface and shade structure with concrete pad. The total cost of improvements is roughly $7 million.
Last year, the Chicago Bears donated turf that was formerly in the Walter Payton Center at Halas Hall for a future warmup area in the park.
“These upgrades to Clarence Hicks Memorial Sports Park are meaningful investments that will expand recreational opportunities for residents of all ages across the southwest side of Rockford,” state Rep. Maurice West, a Democrat from Rockford, said in a news release. “I appreciate the advocacy from local officials and the Rockford Park District to make this project a reality.”
In addition to the Park and Recreational Facility Act grant awarded on Wednesday, the Park District previously received a $600,000 Illinois Department of Natural Resources grant.
“With this investment of state resources, an under-utilized facility will become a major regional attraction,” said state Sen. Steve Stadelman, who helped secure the IDNR grant. “To flourish as a community, we must rescue impoverished neighborhoods — and this project not only provides valuable physical assets but also a place for expanded sports programming that will strengthen the minds and bodies of girls and boys who are key to a prosperous future.”
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Clarence Hicks Memorial Sports Park is home to youth sports programs, including NFL Flag Football, NFL Cheer, Rockford FIRE Track & Field, Youth Sports Outreach, Rockford Wolves Youth Football, Chicago Bears Outreach Camp, AAU Northern Cross Country National Championship, and AAU Cross County District Qualifier.
The late Clarence Hicks spent 42 years with the Rockford Park District, eventually serving as the superintendent of recreation. Park District officials say he was a strong advocate for developing recreation programs that positively affect teens and young adults. He died in February 2014 at age 77, and Southwest Community Park was renamed in his honor in 2019.
The Rockford Park District plans to hold an official groundbreaking for the improvements in spring.