City officials and kids from the Police Athletic League will break ground today at Valverde Park on an amateur sports complex funded through cable-television pioneer Bill Daniels’ will.
Daniels was the first donor to the PAL and his estate continues to fund the sports organization for needy kids, according to Jake Schroeder, the lead singer for Opie Gone Bad and deputy director of PAL, which serves 7,000 kids each year.
“I”m blown away that this is finally happening,” he said. “Some of the kids we’ll serve here are really needy. I’ll play at Red Rocks my ninth time this summer, but this is so much more rewarding.”
The new complex, named after Daniels’ friend and retired Denver Police Division Chief Jerry Kennedy, includes a 9,000-square-foot building that will house a boxing ring, a gym, offices and storage. The building will sit on the edge of Valverde Park, at West Bayaud Avenue and South Platte River Drive.
The park will be upgraded with roughly $2.6 million spent for two state-of-the-art baseball fields and a basketball court, named after PAL alumnus and Nuggets star Chauncey Billups. The baseball fields are named after Denver police Officer Donnie Young, who was gunned down in May 2005. Young’s widow, Kelly, will wield a shovel at the groundbreaking.
Another $1 million from Daniels’ organizations will be spent to upgrade athletic fields in Montbello.
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
