SOUTH TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) — Former Heisman winner Charlie Ward and wife Tonja Ward cut the ribbon on a field years in the making, with a $500,000 matching gift challenge now underway
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Champions Ranch has reached a major milestone, unveiling its first multisport field after nearly a year of construction and years of planning.
Co-founders Charlie Ward and Tonja Ward officially cut the ribbon on the field Thursday, transforming what was once just a vision on paper into a reality the community can now see for itself. For the Wards, the project is about much more than sports.
"This is a huge blessing that GOD has bestowed upon us," Charlie Ward said.
Ward, who grew up in Thomasville and went on to win a national championship, capture the Heisman Trophy, and play in the NBA, said seeing the field come to life is proof that faith pays off.
"I talked about a dream; earlier I talked about coming from Thomasville… winning a national championship, winning the Heisman Trophy, and playing in the NBA. That's something definitely a dream. And then to be able to be here and see this where there was a vision on paper and now it's actually a reality so having faith and walking out your faith does pay off," Ward said.
Getting to this point didn't happen overnight. From the early stages of construction to watching the field take shape, what was once just a plan is now something families and young athletes could one day call home.
"Having a field it's like amazing and what's most exciting is when we bring people out especially like some of our partners who are going to start bringing kids out they see it and they are like o my gosh this field is amazing and they start thinking about all the kids they can bring, that's what's giving me joy, just excited about what the kids are going to experience when they come out here," Tonja Ward said.
Local coaches and community leaders see the field as an investment in the future of youth sports in Tallahassee.
"We had kids out here the very first day we assisted the Wards on breaking ground on this property, and again, as a kid everything looks so huge and so impossible and to now bring those same kids here to experience what we are seeing here today obviously is a journey for which that they now can believe all dreams are possible," Antonio Jefferson said.
Jefferson is chairman of the Boys and Girls Club of the Big Bend.
While this first field marks a major step forward, the Wards say their vision for Champions Ranch goes far beyond what's here today. To help fund that vision, the organization has launched a matching gift challenge.
"Any gift that is made from now to the end of December will be matched dollar for dollar up to $500,000, and we would like the entire gift to be matched so we hope community members will say, This is my time to support because now we can see the life transformation," Tonja Ward said.
For the Wards, the field is just the beginning of what they hope to build for the next generation.
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