Kearney, UNK partner up to enhance Dryden Park

KEARNEY, Neb. --

There's now an official home for UNK Softball.

The Lopers have a long history of softball, dating back to 1964.

While they have bounced around for their home fields over the years, and even had to play home games in other cities, Dryden Park has been a consistent for the Blue and Gold.

Now, it's officially the "Home of Loper Softball" after a memorandum of understanding was agreed upon between the Nebraska Board of Regents, UNK, and the Kearney City Council.

"Partnerships are just a no-brainer in Kearney," said Mayor Jonathan Nikkila. "We don't take ego to the table, we don't hog things for ourselves, we work together between all organizations."

"We've proven that we work together well and these partnerships are something we can actually use at UNK to help further that student-athlete experience," said UNK Athletics Director Marc Bauer.

The Lopers have had a run at making Dryden their home field before, even putting windscreens on the outfield fence.

The park was still outdated, dugouts were small, and it had a feel of being minor league.

The finished product may bring a new sense of pride to the program.

"Coach (Katie) Ackerman has asked me multiple times, 'What am I selling? We really don't have a permanent field, we don't have lockers, we don't have a place for hitting cages,'" Bauer shared. "Those are things that we've been working on with the softball team and this is something they can share with potential recruits as they move forward."

The park is owned and operated by the city, and they are in charge of the on-going construction.
UNK is committing $250,000 from the University of Nebraska Foundation fund. There are additional donations of $100,000 each from Donna Bamford plus the Ron and Pamela Blessing estate.

The city will not have to pay for these upgrades and UNK will be responsible in the future if changes are required by the NCAA or MIAA.

Any others will be requested by UNK and negotiated by the two sides.

It's a 20-year agreement off the top with 5-year terms allowed to extend the partnership down the road.

Because it's owned by the city, it will still be available for public use once the re-model is complete and there are no UNK events scheduled.

"This is one that's been a long time coming for our softball program," said Bauer. "Dryden Park is going to be the home of Loper softball from here on."