Rigby City Park bears new name, honoring a local legend

RIGBY, Idaho (KIFI) - The Rigby City Park has bore that name for many years. Now, the park will honor local hero and legend, Larry F. Wilson.

Wilson is a Hall of Fame football player who grew up just across the street from the park that now bears his name. Wilson played 13 years with the then St. Louis Cardinals (now the Arizonia Cardinals) and spent 30 years in the front office of the organization.

Previously, the city has named the high school football stadium after Wilson, and now they continue to honor Wilson with the renaming of the park he grew up in front of.

Michelle Barber is the chair of the committee that helped spur the renaming of the park. She says many have asked her why this wasn't done sooner.

"A lot of people say, what took so long? You know, why wasn't this done before? And the really the fact of the matter is, I think a lot of people talked about it, but nobody really picked up the ball and ran with it. So I say, like Larry did, it just took some somebody to get things started," Barber said.

Barber says part of the purpose behind the new name for the park is to give future and current generations a local hero that they can look up too.

"Larry was not only exceptional on the football field, he was just a great guy. He gave of his time and his presence and his efforts in fundraising throughout the years. He came back to Rigby every single summer and I have had people come up to me and say, Do you know he did this note? Do you know he helped us with that? Nope. Nobody knew because it wasn't announced and Larry didn't come with his chest all puffed out talking to the local paper about I'm in town and I'll be doing this or that. He wasn't that kind of a guy. He came up to see his parents and to fish and to spend some, some good hours with family and friends during the summertime."

Barber says they hope that example will rub off in other ways as well.

"Larry was the kind of guy that achieved what he achieved through hardship and obstacles. His mom died when he was ten years old. He helped raise his little brother. He came from a little teeny town with nobody to say, Hey, I'm going to make you a star, kid. He did it himself."

She says the naming of the park is not the only thing the committee has done to help inspire the next generation.

"There's a scholarship in his name now at the school that is taken care of by the Rex call family. And Rex actually was a classmate of Larry's. And when he found out we were trying to get a scholarship together for a student, two students, actually, one male and one female. From Rigby to get the Larry Wilson scholarship. He stepped up and said, We want to do that as a family."

Barber who has been in contact with Wilson's family say they are grateful the town is finding ways to embrace their father.

"Larry Wilson Junior last year as he spoke, said Mom and Dad loved Rigby. They loved to come back here. They feel like Rigby is who made them, who they are. You know, they were small town people."

She says the committee also has many other ideas for what they hope to do to honor Larry Wilson's Legacy.