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Our History
The Joe Nuxhall Miracle League Fields at Hatton Park are the realization of one of several charitable works envisioned by the late major league pitcher and Reds broadcaster Joe Nuxhall.
Encounters with service organizations dedicated to helping children and adults with disabilities, as well as his association with amateur sports organizations of all kinds, led Joe to the realization that no baseball diamonds existed to facilitate unrestricted play for people with physical and mental challenges. He developed a resolve to provide such a ballpark for his community.
Unfortunately, we lost Joe before his vision for such a facility could be realized, but the dream was eagerly taken up by the Nuxhall family, including and especially Joe's son, Kim Nuxhall.
While some preliminary work and planning was done earlier, fundraising efforts were begun in earnest in 2011, led by Kim Nuxhall and Larry Tischler and facilitated by the Fairfield Community Foundation. When fundraising reached an acceptable level, the decision was made to proceed with construction and ground was broken in November of 2011.
Despite the fact that fundraising was far from the projected goal of over $2.5 million, construction began with a growing faith in contributed work and materials as union members of local electrical workers, pipefitters and others began work -- without compensation.
A miracle from The Hatton Foundation helped bring our miracle into reality. In the early stages of fundraising, The Hatton Foundation (managed by Executive Director Walt Lunsford of 9258 Wealth Management) gave an astonishing $500,000 matching grant to fund construction of the Joe Nuxhall Miracle League Fields. This unbelievable gift sustained the dream and helped bring the dream closer to reality in a big way, leading to the entire park being officially renamed as Hatton Park.
Within that context of selfless giving, an increasingly diverse organization grew to include...
...and so many others. Ultimately more than a $1.5 million in skilled labor and materials were contributed.
Joe's dream was realized when The Joe Nuxhall Miracle League Fields opened July 28, 2012.
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