EDMONTON – Thanks to the work of 80-year-old Wally Footz, eight Edmonton baseball teams have a quality field to call home.
“It is probably the busiest diamond in the city,” said Footz.
Just beside Rexall Place, nestled inside of Spartan Park, lies Wally Footz Field. Footz raised over $100,000, with the help of local businesses and sports foundations, to build the diamond over 10 years ago.
He built it, and maintains it on his own. He cleans the dugouts, rakes, paints the diamond lines every day, and cuts the grass. He is a one-man grounds-keeping crew, spending seven days a week at his self-made baseball diamond.
“The mound takes a lot of work,” he said. “On a weekend if you have four or six games here. It gets ripped up pretty good. So the first thing that I have to do Monday morning is rebuild the mound, which is a big job because you have to drive around the country and find good clay – hopefully in a ditch somewhere.”
Footz spent his entire life involved with baseball in one way or another.
“I started when I was 13 or 14. I played all over Alberta and Saskatchewan; I coached, I managed, and everything else there is in baseball,” he said.
After retiring from a 37-year career at CN Rail, Footz said he “went full-time baseball.”
“I usually spend three or four hours a day at the diamond,” he said.
On weekends, when the games are on, Footz is at the field for the entire day and into the night.
Fortunately, Footz’s wife seems to be fine with all this time away from home.
“But she is very good. I think that if the wife didn’t support you, you wouldn’t be doing it properly.”
For Footz, watching kids play on a quality field makes all of his work worthwhile.
If Footz has anything to say about it, Wally Footz Field will be around a long time.
“I think it’s going to be around here forever. I hope it will,” he said. “It’s a field of dreams.”
With files from John Sexsmith, Global News
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