As winter gave way to spring last week, a new outdoor basketball court took shape at Beatty Park on the Near East Side.
The gift to the city is unmistakable, the blue-and-orange floor conspicuous amid the surrounding bare trees and brown brick buildings.
The court's vibrant colors serve as a metaphor for the NCAA’s efforts to leave Columbus a better, brighter place long after a champion is crowned next Sunday at the Women’s Final Four.
The event’s impact, city and NCAA officials hope, will extend beyond the short-term economic shot in the arm provided by the thousands of visitors who will patronize area hotels, restaurants and other businesses during the three-day tournament at Nationwide Arena.
The court is one of several ancillary benefits traditionally provided by the governing body of college athletics and its partners to the city that hosts the annual championship.
In addition, the Final Four has brought a charitable foundation’s $100,000 donation to the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State University and a months-long program to promote reading among third-graders in Columbus City Schools.
“Part of our philosophy is to leave a lasting legacy in the cities that step forward to host these events,” said Rick Nixon, NCAA associate director of championships and alliances. “We try to bring additional pieces to the community that they wouldn’t experience otherwise.”
Such community projects, Nixon said, have become a higher priority for the NCAA in the past seven or eight years.
The reading program, "Read to the Final Four," was the first to be implemented. Since January, more than 2,000 third-graders in the Columbus district have been going online to read chapter-length stories on topics of their choosing — from sports and famous people to animals and nature.
The company that provides the lessons, Reading Plus, tracks the students, classrooms and schools that read the most, sending monthly updates about who is "winning."
"My kids love it," said Melissa Matlack, a teacher at Parkmoor Elementary in the Forest Park area on the North Side — one of the leading schools in the competition.
“They ask if they can do it (read) instead of doing other stuff.”
Matlack said the 52 students in Parkmoor’s two third-grade classes have read more than 1.4 million words during the program, which ends Monday.
On Thursday, all third-grade classes will take a field trip to the Greater Columbus Convention Center for an awards ceremony.
A day earlier, on Wednesday, officials will gather at the James Cancer Center as the Kay Yow Cancer Fund announces a $100,000 grant, which will be directed to benefit research into women’s cancers.
The fund honors the former North Carolina State basketball coach who died in 2009 after a 22-year battle with recurring breast cancer. That same year, the fund began donating $100,000 annually (except for 2015, when it donated $250,000) to a hospital in the Women’s Final Four host city.
"Coach Yow loved the Final Four," said Stephanie Glance, CEO of the fund. “It was something she supported, and she would attend all the way through the championship game every year.
"So it is appropriate that we are leaving something that will make a huge impact in the fight against cancers in each Final Four city. This was personal to Coach Yow."
Later on Wednesday, the focus will shift to Beatty Park — at North Ohio and Hawthorne avenues, just south of Champion Middle School — for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new court.
Called a "Dream Court," the hard-plastic structure — 80 by 50 feet — cost about $40,000 and was funded by the NCAA, the Greater Columbus Sports Commission and Nancy Lieberman Charities.
Lieberman, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, won two national championships at Old Dominion University and a silver medal in the 1976 Olympics. She also played professionally in the WNBA and later became the first woman to coach a men’s professional team (with the Texas Legends of the NBA's D-League) and was an assistant coach with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.
The Columbus court, she said, is the 55th installed by her charity.
“Dream Courts are named that because it was always my dream to be on a court,” said Lieberman, 59. “Growing up a poor kid in New York City, with no father and no food, nobody profiled me on a court.”
Alesia Howard, spokeswoman for the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department, said Beatty Park was chosen for the court because it gets a lot of use.
“The NCAA is passionate about these 'legacy' projects and making sure that they’re not just coming to Columbus, playing basketball and leaving, but that they also are leaving something behind.
“We’re excited to be a beneficiary.”
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