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August 2014 34 www.sportseventsmagazine.com ▼ YOUTH Sports ack in 2009, when Tony Comden was in Pittsburgh watching the Pirates play his home state team, the Detroit Tigers, he saw a video honoring a Pittsburgh resident who had started a baseball pro- gram for children with disabilities. "I saw those kids playing on that large screen and I started to cry," he recalled. "It was a very powerful moment for me because I have a child who is disabled. The message about providing opportuni- ties for kids with disabilities to play base- ball really hit home." Comden's son Jed, who is now 10, had a brain tumor removed seven years ago and has remaining physical limitations. Like his father and sis- ter, Jed loves playing ball and had been able to play, using a walker, on a conventional T-ball team and a coach-pitch team. But Comden now saw a way that his son and other kids with disabilities could continue playing baseball as they grew up. After contacting the man who had been honored in Pittsburgh, Comden learned about the Miracle League program, found- ed in 2000 in the Atlanta area, which fea- tures specially designed ball fields and rules of play intended to allow children with all types of disabilities to play. Comden was put in touch with the organ- izers of three Miracle Leagues in Michigan and, since there was no league in the Grand Rapids area where he lives, he decided to get one started. Making The Right Connections At that time, Comden was not aware that the West Michigan Sports Commission (WMSC) was in the process of developing a 79-acre property that would become the Art Van Sports Complex in Rockford, Mich., just outside of Grand Rapids. Once he read about the project in a local busi- ness paper, he got in touch with WMSC Executive Director Mike Guswiler. Guswiler invited him to a board of directors meeting where he presented his case to civic leaders who were helping raise funds for the new sports complex, including Daniel DeVos. "My son had received cancer treatment at the DeVos Children's Hospital and here I was sitting across the table from a member of the family that built that facility," he said. "I started by thanking him for the facility that had saved my son's life and then tried to express the passion and commitment I had for building a Miracle Field." By the end of his presentation, Comden had most of the group in tears and received a commitment from them to include a Miracle Field in the sports com- plex. He then formed a charita- ble organization, and in just over two years was able to raise $750,000. "West Michigan has a lot of very gener- ous people from both a philanthropic and volunteer standpoint," Comden said. "The support was absolutely fantastic." Honoring Nate Hurwitz When Comden sought to include a person with disabilities on the board of directors for the newly formed West Michigan Miracle League, he was introduced to Nate Hurwitz, an area teenager who had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a rare degenerative muscle disease that required him to use a wheelchair. "Even though he wasn't able to play, Nate was a huge baseball fan and loved the Red Sox," Comden said. "He was very excited about the new Miracle Field and immediately started making calls to help raise money for it." Sadly, Hurwitz passed away in 2012, but his legacy to the West Michigan Miracle League lives on. The Hurwitz family not only asked that donations to the field be made in his name, but they also B Building a Miracle Miracle Fields Allow Kids With Disabilities To Enjoy The Thrill Of Baseball By Marcia Bradford "For most of these kids, so much of their lives are about what they can't do. With Miracle League baseball, we celebrate what they can do." —Tony Comden