A night with the Danville Dans

Jun. 15—For Kody Gettleman and his friends — all firefighters from Danville Fire Department — there's no better way to spend a Tuesday evening in the summer than to head to Danville Stadium for a Danville Dans game.

Fellow firefighter, Dylan, is expecting the arrival of a new baby anytime, so Gettleman and their friends got together to celebrate his Diaper Party at the game.

"It's a good place to get together, a good thing for Danville [to have] a historical stadium," Gettleman says. "It's just a good time."

Several hundred others also came out Tuesday night to watch the Dans' game against the Lafayette Aviators — a game the Dans won, 11-1.

The Danville Barbershop Chorus, led by Marty Lindvahl, opened the game Tuesday night with their acapella rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

The barbershop chorus is just one among many groups and individuals who have sung the national anthem to open games at Danville Stadium, all of whom are local singers.

"This is a community place. It's locals singing the national anthem. It's families," says Jeannie Cooke, who has been a managing partner of the Danville Dans, alongside Rick Kurth, since 1989.

For Cooke and Kurth, managing the Dans is a daily, year-round labor of love. While Cooke handles the schedule and other administrative tasks, Kurth has more interest in maintaining the field.

From selling advertisements to the daily upkeep of the field itself, Kurth and his family are hands-on.

"Last night, I was here with my wife, my grandson, and my great nephew painting stencils on the field, those cancer ribbons for OSF," Kurth says. "Year-round, there's always something."

Another aspect of keeping Danville Stadium running is finding host families for the players, many of whom come from all over the country and are hosted by local families.

"We have players from over 17 states this year, so you have to have a place for them. We have 30 host families, many of them [who have hosted] for many years. They're absolutely wonderful. But we're also very fortunate in the coaches that send us these players. They know who we are and they send very good human beings."

The final cog in the machine that keeps the Danville Dans running strong is the team of coaches and managers that train and keep the players in shape, according to head manager, Eric Coleman.

"It's all down to a great group of coaches," Coleman says about the success the Dans have enjoyed over the past decade since he has been managing the team.

The Dans have produced some 30 major league baseball players, according to the team's website, including such greats as Jonathan Papelbon, who played with the Dans in 2001 and went on to play for the Red Sox, Phillies, and Nationals.

None of it would be as great as it is without Danville Stadium, the home of the Danville Dans.

Construction of Danville Stadium was completed in 1946 with the help of 200 local volunteers, according to the Dans' website. That same summer, the Brooklyn Dodgers came to Danville to establish a minor league team, and the new Danville Dodgers won their first game, 2-1.

Over the years, however, the stadium fell into disrepair. Ongoing financial issues and a lack of maintenance caused the old wooden stadium to deteriorate so badly it was declared unsafe for use by the late 1980s.

That's when Cooke and Kurth, along with three other original managing partners, purchased the team and began working alongside the city of Danville to repair and update the stadium.

"I just thought, you know, what a great thing to have. It was worth saving," Kurth says. "We were lucky we had the people and the city behind us."

After years of hard work, Danville Stadium was improved and updated before rising to national fame when the movie "The Babe" was filmed there in July of 1991.

The stadium has received some much-needed TLC over the past few years, including the installation of new outfield lights and a brand-new scoreboard. In coming years, Kurth says, he and Cooke are hoping to pass the torch down to a younger generation who can keep the dream alive into the future.

"We're into our second generation of people taking care of this place, so I think it's about pride," says Kurth. "We've got something that a lot of communities do not have."

"Not long ago, a gentleman from out of town said to me, 'I don't really like baseball, but I love the way I feel when I'm here at Danville Stadium.' I think that's how everyone feels," says Cooke. "They're happy when they're here."

For more information about Danville Stadium, the Danville Dans, or to apply as a host family, check out the Dans' website at danvilledans.com.