Sports Legacy Community Projects

Hank Aaron is a sports legend in Atlanta. Julius "Dr. J." Erving is a hometown hero in Philadelphia. Most communities have a local sports legend, although their names may not be widely recognizable. In addition to naming streets after sports legends, communities can develop projects that honor their sports stars, and also include a "give back" component to encourage involvement, engagement in sports and support of local teams.

  1. Community "Putt-Putt" Golf Garden

    • Create a community project that honors hometown or even national golf sports legends. Develop a miniature golf park named in honor of golf greats. Make the project family friendly and take advantage of dual opportunities; teach and introduce community members to golf and gardening at the same time. Involve children in the design of the miniature golf park by creating specialty garden areas, such as a tropical zone, desert flowers, native flowers, perennials, annuals and a vegetable garden for fundraising. Partner with local university and college cooperative extension offices to plan and design the garden and help the children and adults select the right types of flowers and plants. Seek sponsorships from golf courses, businesses and gardening centers for funding.

    Sportswear Shop

    • Connect and partner with local real estate agencies, commercial real estate owners and local government agencies to transform unused commercial real estate into a retail sportswear shop. Create T-shirts, jerseys, baseball caps and bumper stickers honoring local sports teams. Hold contests for art students to design sportswear that honors sports stars who made it in the big leagues and supports local school teams on every level from elementary school to universities. Partner with the local chamber of commerce and offices of economic development to use the sportswear shop as a means to provide training and job opportunities for members of the community to learn the business side of the sports industry.

    Jogging Trail

    • Develop a project to get community residents off the couch and on the trail to fitness. Work with the local parks and recreation departments to develop walking and jogging trails named in honor of local, state and national track and field stars. Partner with schools, colleges and universities to name the trails after winners of track meets. Name the quarter-mile, half-mile and one mile points after local all-stars. Work with exercise and fitness centers and sporting good stores to sponsor the costs for signage.

    Exercise Classes

    • Make exercise and fitness a community affair. While many communities have local centers and classes -- they don't often have the funding needed to promote what's offered so that more members take advantage of programs and services. That's when working with local public relations and marketing offices for sports team can pay off. Propose a program to develop classes to honor team members. For example, work with the local World Wrestling Federation to name a weight building class around a member who's a native of your city or state. Do the same to set-up tennis classes, purchase uniforms for baseball little league teams and other sports to honor the legacy of local heroes and make fitness a priority in your community.