Bret Moore and his dad, Noel Moore, are donating $1 million toward the renovation of the half-century-old Little League fields on Hanley Road in Central Point. Noel Moore helped established the fields in 1972.

Half a century’s worth of home runs since retired homebuilder Noel Moore helped wrangle volunteer labor, donated materials and “a really good deal” on land for local kids to play baseball on, the fields along Hanley Road in Central Point will be turned into a state-of-the-art complex.

In recent weeks, city crews began scraping dry ground and doing demolition work for phase one of a multiphase overhaul of the baseball and softball fields. Plans call for two new fields — a realigned “north field” next to the Boy Scouts of America property, and a retrofitted south field — as well as concession stands, restrooms and a revamped entryway near the parking lot.

Moore’s family announced plans in early 2022 to partner with the city on the more-than-$3-million project. City officials took ownership of the fields last year from the volunteer-run Central Point Little League and, before the most recent season, did some cleanup and improved the parking lot.

Matt Samitore, Central Point’s parks and public works director, said the city had executed a long-term, $1-per-year lease, which ensures the Little League keeps full use of the facility while allowing the city to invest in the property.

The first major investment, he said, was extending a water line from Beall Lane to the fields down Hanley Road. Decades of irrigation and maintenance woes — and seasons with dusty porta-potties and irrigation channels drying up — will soon be over.

“Water has been a really big deal out at the fields. When Noel first built things out there, we as a valley were in a different place (with water). Irrigation ran through September,” Samitore said.

“Nowadays, irrigation is only good for three, four months at absolute most. You can’t really count on getting into August. It’s hard to have a complex with limited water … Water and sewer were the biggest infrastructure needs.”

Noel Moore, now 84, remembers, back in 1971, just being a dad trying to figure out a spot for local baseball teams to play. His then-12-year-old son, Bret, was headed into his final year of Little League, playing for the Wolfard Equipment. Before that year, Little League players — just eight teams, due to limited space — played ball in the schoolyard at Mae Richardson Elementary.

Bret Moore, now 63 — and the family’s third generation to build homes and develop neighborhoods in and around the city — recalled his first three years on Mae Richardson fields and the big move to Hanley Road thanks to his dad’s connection to the local Flanagan family.

Noel Moore said it happened through a series of conversations with property owner George Flanagan Sr., who offered the property, at first, just for them to use.

“We got this land originally from George Sr. Me and George Jr. were real close friends in the fire department and from riding motorcycles together up on John’s Peak and everything,” Noel recalled.

He asked George Sr. if he had any land sitting around. “He showed us this, and we got to work,” Noel said.

At the fields one afternoon last month, Noel Moore smiled as he remembered “borrowing a grader from the city” to help prepare the ground and establish four baseball fields.

Much like today’s Little League, a network of volunteers and parents pitched in where they could. Masons built dugout walls. Landscapers helped with grass and trees. Local businesses chipped in on materials for everything from bleachers to fencing. Noel even remembers peddling candy bars in downtown bars to support the endeavor.

While building housing at Rachel Drive and Donna Way, Noel would order extra supplies where he could.

“I’d order a truckload of concrete, knowing I’d have two or three yards left over. We’d use the leftover to build our dugouts. We had a brick mason who was a friend, so he did that part. … One of the parents was the owner of a lumberyard, so we got wood for cheap to make some bleachers.”

Some years after the first parcel of land was obtained, a second parcel would bring the property to its current 14.5 acres. Basic in design, the fields immediately filled a gap.

A few years after the fields opened, a state tournament was held there. The younger Moore said the move to Hanley Road allowed his sisters, and eventually his kids and grandkids, to play ball. Together, father and son have played, coached and umpired their way across five decades of ball on the fields they helped start.

Bret Moore said it was exciting to see crews moving dirt at the fields last week.

“Obviously we’re pretty excited to see things are happening. In the springtime, the city came in and kind of graded out the parking lot a little bit and got quite a few compliments about even that,” Bret said.

“Even just those little bits of improvement made a difference to a lot of people.”

Despite budget constraints, Bret said the completion of all the fields would create a “really great facility for the kids.”

Samitore said it was fitting to see the Moore family play a role in updating the fields, given that they helped establish them so many years ago. In addition to Central Point funding a $278,000 design process with RGH Consultants, the city has budgeted another $1.5 million to the project. The Moore family, meanwhile, will contribute $1 million.

Samitore said the city will look to grants and donations — cash or in-kind donations of labor and supplies — to make up the difference. With rising costs, Samitore said cuts from the original plans, discussed two years ago, include a playground, warmup areas and batting cages, and redoing a softball and T-ball field.

By summer’s end, two fields will be replaced. Next summer, two additional fields will be replaced with funding allocated from the city’s 2025-27 budget. Samitore said a renovation of the fields was long overdue.

“The city is excited for the $1 million the Moores are giving us. Our costs for the project have obviously been slightly more than we anticipated, and we’ve had a few design challenges along the way, so we’re having to do a lot of the work with our own staff and with help from community partners in order to get the project done,” he said.

“Thankfully, our operations staff really stepped up and said they wanted to do the work. We have a lot of brilliant people who work on our staff who are community-oriented, and they wanted to be part of the solution.”

Noel Moore said he is as eager now as he was in 1971 to make sure local ball players have a place to hone their skills.

“I’m glad to see things moving,” he said.

“It’s gonna be really nice for the community and for the kids.”

For project information, see centralpointoregon.gov/parksrec/page/central-point-little-league-construction, or to donate, visit cpprfoundation.org and search Projects & Programs.