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Sports complex improves fan experience with better restrooms, game visibility
McCOOK, Neb. — Besides a beautiful expected 800 percent increase in ladies’ restroom stalls, the new Gerald L. Walters Sports Complex is set to provide some other free-flowing ideas rarely seen before for McCook softball, baseball and soccer fans such as:
“You can sleep in (a little bit more) this morning!”
That’s the message to all those before-dawn volunteer workers who were dragging tarps and moving mud to get diamonds ready for a big Saturday tournament.
“Three or four inches of rain has meant we were doing playing for days, maybe even a week,” McCook Public Works director Kyle Potthoff said about the tradition-filled but often water-logged Jaycees Complex. “Now they can be ready for play in a few hours. A quarter of an inch and things should be ready and running within a half-hour or so. We can even play through light rain now…except for lightning, of course.”
Lightning deflector-shield technology— which McCook would have loved Tuesday morning for that bolt near downtown — is still some distance away probably found on the latest Star Trek series remake.
Yet intricate drainage systems around all eight PFC Gerald L. Walters diamonds and championship fields means coaches can now celebrate summer rain almost as much as area farmers.
Those 16 ladies’ restroom stalls will be another “thank you, Jesus” sight after years of two stalls at the current McCook softball/baseball complex. Plus, young parents will find a separate family restroom with changing tables for their youngest offspring.
Those are just some of the free-flowing ideas which Mammoth Sports Construction superintendent Jason Forgy and his workers are turning into reality at this north McCook location. They’ve finished other expansive projects at major colleges like the University of Kansas baseball stadium where those Big 12 Conference champion Jayhawks hosted both regional and super regional tournaments this month.
Ironically, other rain-delayed projects have brought more workers to McCook so the complex is well on-schedule to be open by August for McCook High’s girls 2026 home opener.
“They don’t take days off. They work seven days a week when they’re not looking busy,” Potthoff proclaimed about the Mammoth work crews. “They take lunch breaks, they’re back and that’s it.”
The Mammoth crew has created some other showers of blessing which include:
— Dugouts that will not block any fans’ view when games do begin. Potthoff confirmed there should not be a “bad seat” wherever fans put chairs or parents want to “walk off energy” during tense contests.
“A lot of people who attend every game don’t sit in the stands,” he said although there are bleachers for all diamonds.
— Ten batting cages marking another large increase from the current facility. They’re close to the diamonds so players can take some swings even between game at-bats.
— Larger concession stands with more windows. There are also three plug-in outlets for events that want to bring in food trucks.
“We don’t want to take away from the concessions. It will be an opportunity for both to do business,” Potthoff said since he envisions concerts and other events like seven-on-seven football tournaments to become part of the complex.
— Home-run fences tall enough for the requirements of top-level softball tournaments. The diamonds also featured marked areas to put down bases without needing measurements, portable pitching mounds and eventuallly padded backstops behind home plates.
The facility is being made to accomodate as many as 56 teams competing, he confirmed.
There will be some adjustments such as no sunflower seeds being spit or dumped on these new all-turf diamonds. Seed shells will just stick to the turf for a long time, Forgy explained, and most teams who play on turf are well-aware of these being discouraged.
“There will also be no metal spikes allowed,” Potthoff added since they tend to damage turf fields more rapidly.
Yet those restrictions are drizzle or bird droppings compared to the flood of visitors bringing that desired boom into McCook’s economy.
Potthoff knows more motels and hotels will be needed in McCook. New restaurants, housing and stores perhaps focusing on sporting goods are all players in this envisioned McCook future.
“Really, the potential opportunities with this are endless,” he concluded.