APPLETON, Ark. — A baseball field in Appleton, Arkansas that probably used to be a drive-by for most folks, is about to be seen in a whole new light.
Luckus Roe, the man who did the impossible, revitalized the park in about two and a half months.
He said he did it simply for the kids.
Once a community ballpark in Appleton, Arkansas, Rainey Field became just a plot of grass on the side of the street.
Roe said everything about it was ruined and it hadn't had running water since 1985.
"It was so run down; the roof, it was grown up. Everything was falling apart," he said.
Then, Roe got to wondering.
"I was sitting at a ball game, up there in Hector, just sitting there watching the game and I got to thinking about this ball field over here. How run down it is and how the kids in the community could sure use this ball field," he said.
An idea came to Luckus Roe's mind to revitalize a patch of land where kids can simply be kids again.
"When I first got started everybody was like, 'You're crazy, you're going to pay for that out of your own pocket,'" he said.
There was one person, besides Roe's wife, that didn't think he was crazy - John Newton, who is Luckus Roe's realtor.
"I've worked with him enough in real estate. He's not crazy. He's just a hard working person and his wife is too, and I knew if he wanted to take on a project like this, he would do a great job with it and they would," Newton said.
Newton said he is a believer in Roe and baseball and automatically knew this was something he wanted to be a part of.
"I just felt like they needed to be repaid for what they have done for this community," he said.
With the help of other sponsors and $4,000 of Roe's own money, Rainey Field was re-birthed; from that overgrown plot of grass to a baseball field once again.
Roe said he was out there almost every day for two and a half months and even cooked his dinner on the field most of the time.
"God and Jesus definitely motivated and gave me lots of drive and energy to come over here and start working on it," he said.
Luckus Roe is Arkansas's own Kevin Costner, who built a Field of Dreams for Appleton.
Roe said he has big hopes for the future of the ball park.
"Man, I hope lots of kids go big from here," he said.
On Saturday, July 12, a softball tournament will be played on Rainey Field. The first game will start at 9 a.m. and there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony following that game at 10 a.m.