Rockford Park District moves forward with new stadium, track at Clarence Hicks Memorial Sports Park

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The Rockford Park District is moving forward with plans to revamp Clarence Hicks Memorial Sports Park on the city’s southwest side with a new stadium for track-and-field and other sports.

The $7.56 million project will create a new artificial turf field and stadium with an eight-lane running track, a throw and jump event area, a spectator space with bleacher seating for 1,000 people, parking lot with solar-powered lights and various landscape improvements.

A groundbreaking at the park, 2004 Ogilby Road, is expected to happen later this year with the improvements complete by August 2025.

This week, the Rockford Park District’s board of commissioners approved a $4,528,432.03 contract with Fischer Excavating Inc. to complete the improvements. A separate $1,436,180 contract was approved for Kiefer USA to complete track and field installation.

“This is going to be an amazing sports facility that will unite youth, teens, and families with their common love of play and provide a permanent home for football, soccer, track and field programming, and much more,” Martesha Brown, president of the Rockford Park District board of commissioners, said in a news release.

The district has made several improvements to the 77-acre park over the past seven years, including new scoreboards, signs, fencing, bleachers, turf playground surface, an asphalt path, and a large shade structure with a concrete pad.

The most recent project built a new access road off Ogilby Road to improve the traffic flow.

Last year, the Chicago Bears donated turf that was once in the Walter Payton Center at Halas Hall to create a future warmup area at Clarence Hicks Memorial Sports Park.

The park is home to youth sports programs, including NFL Cheer, Rockford FIRE Track & Field, NFL Flag Football, Youth Sports Outreach, Rockford Wolves Youth Football, Chicago Bears Outreach Camp, AAU Northern Cross Country National Championship, and AAU Cross County District Qualifier.

It is named for the late Clarence Hicks, who spent 42 years with the Rockford Park District, eventually serving as the superintendent of recreation. Park District officials say he was a strong advocate for developing recreation programs that positively affect teens and young adults. He died in February 2014 at age 77, and Southwest Community Park was renamed in his honor in 2019.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas