Progress Village breaks ground on youth sports complex

PROGRESS VILLAGE — It was a day 85-year-old Harold Williams didn't think he'd live to see.

It had been 10 years since the president of the Progress Village Panthers Youth Football Organization began lobbying Hillsborough County to fund new playing fields for the youngsters in his community.

Now, after repeated delays due to shifting priorities and budget shortfalls, Progress Village will finally get its sports facility.

The new fields will be home to sluggers, the Progress Village Little League, and football players, the Progress Village Panthers.

Both teams currently play at the Progress Village Recreation Center. The county plans to maintain the recreation center's fields, even though the teams are moving, said John Brill, spokesman for the Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department. The fields can be used for practices, overflow or maybe lacrosse, Brill said.

Williams was on hand Monday, bearing a ceremonial ground breaking shovel. Joining him were county commissioners and residents eager to see construction get under way.

"It's been a long time coming," Williams said, shaking his head.

Hilrie Kemp, president of the Progress Village Civic Council, said the new complex was "a dream fulfilled for Progress Village."

The predominantly black community east of downtown Tampa was founded in 1960 as a development of single-family homes. It included a 40-acre park and playground.

Shortly after residents began moving in about 50 years ago, the Progress Village Little League was formed at Progress Village Park. Football players traveled to Brandon to play youth football until 14 years ago when Williams and other residents formed the Panthers organization.

With just three baseball fields and one football field at the current park, games often run until late at night.

Dwayne Sanders has served as athletic director of the Panthers for 14 years. He said the organization has 270 children and attracts 2,500 youth and adults for Saturday games, making parking at the current facility a nightmare.

The 120-acre property on 78th Street just south of Progress Boulevard was an ideal site for the new complex, Sanders said. It was the $4.65 million price tag to develop it that kept the community from getting its field of dreams.

The park will include seven baseball fields and two fields for football and soccer, as well as concession stands, restrooms and a maintenance building. On paper, the county is calling it the 78th Street Sports Complex. But Williams and other residents plan to launch a petition drive to change the name to the Progress Village Sports Complex to reflect the community it serves.

"Words cannot express what this means to this community," Sanders said. "We've been waiting a long time, but we never gave up hope. We kept calling the commissioners and asking when it would happen. We were determined it wouldn't take a back seat."

Cedric McCray, an aide for Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White, can vouch.

He took many of those phone calls from residents.

"They wouldn't let it go," McCray said. "They let us know that this was very important to them."

And Williams isn't ready to let up. The schedule calls for the facility to be completed before the start of football season next year. He said he will continue to keep on top of the project and plans to be front and center at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"You better believe I'll be there."

Times Staff Writer Jessica Vander Velde contributed to this report. D'Ann White can be reached at hillsnews@sptimes.com.