Field to be named for Ruggles |
May 13, 2001 By Lisette Kaczka News-Sentinel sportswriter In 1957, Jack Ruggles made a name for himself in Little A Little League baseball field at Lakeshore Park will be named The field will be dedicated Saturday at 11 a.m. The public is
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Fred Smith, chairman of the board and CEO of Federal Express,
will be among guest speakers at the dedication ceremony. Smith
was Ruggles' company commander in Vietnam. The Marine
Corps Color Guard also will take part in the ceremony.
Ruggles, who was an infantry platoon leader in Vietnam was
posthumously awarded a Purple Heart. The Marine Corps
second lieutenant was killed while going to the aid of one of his
wounded men.
Sports played a prominent role in Ruggles' youth. He was an
award-winning swimmer and made a hole-in-one when he was
15. But baseball was his greatest love.
Ruggles was a left-handed first baseman for the South Knoxville
Legion All-Stars Little League team. In 1957, they won the
district and state Little League championships and the Southern
Sectional Little League title before losing to Owensboro, Ky., in
the Southern Regional Little League tournament in Louisville,
Ky. Had they won the Louisville tournament, Ruggles and his
teammates would have been headed to Williamsport, Pa., for the
Little League World Series.
Ruggles excelled in sports after overcoming polio. The disease,
which he battled for three months as a third-grader at Bearden
Elementary, left him with some muscular impairment.
He graduated from Bearden High School in 1962, and Miami
University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1968. Ruggles was enrolled in the
University of Tennessee Law School, when he volunteered for
the Marines.
John Propis, who went through Marine training with Ruggles, will
speak at Saturday's ceremony. Mayor Victor Ashe also will
attend the dedication.
Proceeds from the Jack Ruggles Memorial Fund will benefit the
Knox Youth Sports, Inc. programs. Donations may be sent to
Caesar Stair, 530 South Gay St., Suite 600, Knoxville, TN
37902. Checks should be made payable to Knox Youth Sports,
Inc.