Proposal to rename our ballfields at Maple Leaf after a fallen soldier and community stand-out
We are posting this proposal as a point of information for community members to review and decide for themselves if they’d like to support it!
WILL STACEY
REDDING, CA, US
U.S. Marine Corps
SGT, 2D BN 4TH MAR, (RCT-6, 2D MAR DIV, II MEF FWD), 1ST MAR DIV, CAMP PENDLETON
01/31/2012, HELMAND PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN
From: Paul Hillman, the President of the RUG Little League
"…[This is a] call-to-action in a very important field-renaming initiative that we (RUG Little League) are engaged with along with the William C. Stacey American Legion Post 206. Will is a fallen Marine Corps Leader in Afghanistan and former RUG Little League player.
You may have seen the banner hanging on Maple Leaf 2 during Opening Day and seen the 2003 Washington Little League District 8 Championship team leading our Opening Day Jamboree Parade. That was Will Stacey's team. Will grew up in the Roosevelt neighborhood and was a RUGLL All-Star every year from 1998 until 2003. Everyone who knew Will then remembers him in connection with the RUGLL games he played on these fields. In 2022, RUG Little League added several safety and feature enhancements to our fields at Maple Leaf Park. This was funded through donations to RUG Little League generated through Will's memorial.
Additional funds lie in waiting to support this renaming effort.
Will was also a stand-out player for Roosevelt High School. He joined the Marine Corps soon after graduating. He was an extraordinary Marine, becoming one of the youngest sergeants in the Corps at age 22. He served four combat tours to Afghanistan but was killed in 2012 when he went ahead of his Marines to check for improvised explosive devices along their route. He was beloved by his fellow Marines—at least ten of his squad members have named a child after him.
RUG LL has joined a coalition that will soon ask the City of Seattle to rename “Maple Leaf Reservoir Park Baseball/Softball Fields #1 and #2” as “The Will Stacey Fields at Maple Leaf Park.”
We, on the RUG LL Board of Directors, invite you to support this proposal.
You can learn more about Will and the proposal to rename the fields after him at the following link.
Your action can be as simple as adding your name to the list of supporters: https://www.staceyfield.com/
If you want to support this this proposal, please click the “Get Involved” tab and enter your information to join our “Community Letter."
This letter is a petition to the City Naming Committee urging them to adopt our forthcoming proposal.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Your RUG Little League Board of Directors"