Historic baseball field to gain familiar name

A famed baseball field in Palatka is getting a name change to honor a longtime Palatka coach.

The baseball diamond will now be known as Jim McCool Field at the Historic Azalea Bowl, named after the decades-long baseball and football coach. The name also keeps alive the celebrated memory of the Azalea Bowl, where Babe Ruth was known to be an instructor at a baseball school.

On Tuesday, Putnam County School Board members unanimously approved renaming the Twigg Street baseball field.

Ron Dennis, a Putnam County School District official, former coach and former Palatka baseball announcer, spoke at the meeting on behalf of the School Facilities Naming Committee, which recommended the field be dedicated to McCool.

McCool is a man of integrity and honor, which is why committee members were in favor of the change, Dennis said.

“You cannot put a number on the number of times that this man has made a difference in people’s lives and sometimes has made a difference in not only kids’ lives but adults’ lives,” Dennis said.

During its Feb. 27 meeting, the naming committee received seven written testimonies from community members in favor of renaming the field for McCool. One letter described McCool as an exceptional leader and “one of the most acclaimed coaches in the history of Palatka athletics.”

A piece of McCool’s history was already at the field before Tuesday, in the form of a baseball diamond painted on the side of a facility building. The commemorative sign displays his 125-44 record, his 1975 state title and his 1998 acceptance into the Florida Athletic Coaches Association.

McCool dedicated his life to making the lives of younger people better and helped them succeed, Dennis added.

School Board member Phil Leary said he fully supported the renaming and recalled being a freshman when McCool was an English teacher at Palatka High School. While Leary didn’t have a class with McCool, he played junior varsity football when McCool coached his team.

“What a great honor and so well-deserved,” Leary said. “It’s just a wonderful thing. From the day I heard about it, I was in full support of it.”

McCool coached baseball and football for decades. He led the Palatka South High School Braves to a baseball state championship in 1975, and he served as Palatka High School’s football head coach from 1983 to 2003.

Superintendent Rick Surrency said Palatka Junior-Senior High School baseball head coach Ricky Surrency, the superintendent’s son, wants to celebrate McCool during one of the team’s home games.

School officials hadn’t selected a date by Tuesday’s meeting, but the coach wants all of McCool’s former players to attend the game at the field in his honor, the superintendent said.

“It’s surely a great time for our community,” Rick Surrency said.