More than 300 show up to Future Champions to clear debris following June 18 tornado
By Ben Cox
Photos/Submitted to The Source
Future Champions Sports Complex laid practically in ruins after getting a direct hit by an EF1 tornado on Wednesday, June 18 around noon.
The tornado packed an estimated 100 mph winds along its three and three-quarters of a mile path, according to a National Weather Service report.
The Future Swings building on the complex’s grounds on West Walnut Street was destroyed. The storm couldn’t have come at a worse time, as a 50-team baseball tournament was set to start on the following day.
The Jacksonville community rallied around the sports complex the next day to begin cleanup and recovery efforts.
“We had a great [June 19] when over 300 people joined us on Future Champions campus to help pick up whatever we could,” co-owner of Future Champions Kristin Jamison explained. “Those that drove by the complex saw there was an enormous amount of debris, insulation and all kinds of different things strewn about the property. We had just a wonderful contingent of community members, not just from Jacksonville but from surrounding areas, baseball and softball players who travel to join us at Future Champions. [They] met us on campus in the afternoon and wow, what a difference just a few hours made when you have that many people trying to help out. We were just blown away by that sign of appreciation for being happy to be able to play ball in Jacksonville. We’re happy to be able to provide that opportunity. To just see everybody come out in full force, that was humbling.”
Jamison explained that through community partnerships, they were still able to complete the entire tournament despite all the logistical challenges. Two of the six fields at Future Champions were virtually untouched by the tornado. The remainder of the games were split between fields at eight remote locations: the Routt Catholic High School baseball field, the RCHS softball field at the Bob Freesen YMCA, the upper and lower fields at the Y, the Illinois College softball field, the Jacksonville High School softball field, and JAB fields no. 2 and no. 3 behind the Jacksonville V.F.W.
“To push [the tournament] out to a number of different sites is difficult in terms of just the logistics, but we have a great team of staff members at Future Champions that were figuring out how to make it happen the minute they knew about the storm. I’m just so proud of our team of staff members, but then also community members who helped us make this thing go,” Jamison continued, “It’s so humbling for us that they were willing to put their weekend plans on hold to make sure that this happened.”
The current plans to rebuild and provide further extensive rehabilitation are on hold while insurance adjusters assess the total damage, put a dollar amount to the damage and help with the monetary side of the losses.
In the meantime, Jamison says there are no plans to slow down the schedule, “We are moving forward full steam. That was one of the first questions we started receiving from various teams. Do we need to find another tournament? Do we need to cancel? We are not canceling. We are figuring out a way to make sure we accommodate every team who’s registered with us and the others that want to, we’re going to make this happen. We are a locally owned complex. We’re not a municipally driven complex that we’re seeing so many pop up around [Jacksonville]. It’s imperative to us that we move forward and finish the season.”
