From dirt to dreams: Ball field founders built it and several generations came

By Moses Leos III

The Hays Youth Sports Complex may not have been born in a cornfield — it was actually built in a cotton field. But for Mike Dees, Billy Gandy and Robert Roach, building a facility for Hays County youth to play sports was their very own Field of Dreams. 

“It was a great reward for the eight or ten of us that put a lot of time into it,” Roach said. “It was great to see the kids having somewhere [local] to play. Otherwise, we would’ve had to spread out to the other communities to play organized sports.”