Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
City may name field for longtime coach
By JON WILSON
Published February 13, 2005
ST. PETERSBURG - Luther "Pete" Stroud coached hundreds of young baseball players in St. Petersburg, helping some to win college scholarships and boosting others toward professional careers.
Now the city is contemplating naming a baseball field in memory of Stroud, who died Oct. 4 at age 74.
Several people wrote City Hall suggesting such a memorial, said Lee Metzger, city services administrator.
The field proposed to be named is at Northwest Community Center, one of Stroud's "home fields" where he spent countless hours teaching the game's finer points.
The one under consideration for Stroud "happens to be the one ... he was on all the time with the kids," Metzger said. "It's a natural fit."
The naming requires that a city ordinance be enacted, and the City Council gave preliminary approval at its Feb. 3 meeting. A public hearing for anyone who wants to have a say about the proposal is Thursday.
Stroud came to St. Petersburg in 1951 to play minor league ball for the old St. Petersburg Saints.
He met his future wife at Al Lang Field. The couple married in 1953 and reared three children. Stroud began coaching almost immediately after retiring from professional ball in the mid 1950s.
He coached for about 30 years, balancing that with his job at Florida Power Corp.
[Last modified February 13, 2005, 01:07:16]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
