Pats ABC to honor Horton with plaque

Pats ABC to honor Horton with plaque

Longtime softball coach recognized by boosters, city

news@theeveningtimes.com

Longtime Marion girl’s softball coach may not be getting his name on a ballfield, but he will be getting a plaque in his honor at the sports complex.

Marion Parks and Recreation Committee has agreed to let the Marion Athletic Boosters erect a plaque to Coach David Horton somewhere at the complex near where the girl’s play softball.

Sean Gray, who coaches softball at Marion High School, asked the Parks and Recreation Committee in June to consider renaming the sports complex in honor of Horton.

The city was leery about setting a precedent by renaming the fields, but suggested the club erect a plaque instead.

Gray appeared before the committee on Monday and said the Boosters Club supports the idea of putting up a plaque.

“The Boosters Club has agreed to pay whatever it costs to do this,” Gray said. Horton coached girl’s softball from 1996 to 2016. In 21 years of coaching, Horton won 372 games as coach.

Under his guidance, Horton built the girl’s softball program into consistent winners. The Lady Patriots appeared in 19 tournaments — 13 consecutive — have been conference champions three times, runners up four times, been to the semi-finals four times, were state runners up two times, and won one state championship. Horton’s influence also extends to off the field, where he instilled his players with life lessons that extended beyond just the game.

Gray submitted a write up of what the Boosters would like to see go on the plaque. “It’s probably a little wordy,” Gray said. “I just put all of the facts on there, all of his accomplishments It’s not hard and fast on what all has to be in there.

We can decide what we want to keep.”

Mayor Frank Fogleman, who has ordered bronze plaques for both the city and Marion United Methodist Church, said he would give the words to his secretary to took over and make suggestions on how to trim it down if need be.

“She is awfully good with wording and punctuation,” Fogleman said. “So with your permission I can show it to her.”

Fogleman said he will also take it somewhere and have a preliminary design drawn up and a cost estimate, which he guessed will be about $500.

The plaque will be cast in bronze and likely be a square about two feet by two feet long.

“Depending on the cost, they can shrink it,” Fogleman said. “But you don’t want it to be so small that people have to bend over to read it. If they come Back at $12,000, we will probably want to re-word it.”

The location of the plaque has not yet been decided, but Gray said he would like it to be places near the

fields where the girls play softball.

“It needs to be inside the park near the fields,” Gray said.

The city has offered to do the concrete work for the base.

By Mark Randall