The Churubusco Park Board voted Wednesday to name diamond one after Dennis “Denny” Cramer, a longtime youth league coach and mentor.
Pat Stanford, president of the Churubusco Community Park Board of Directors, was the lone vote against the proposal, which was brought before the board by several members of the Churubusco Youth League after Cramer died unexpectedly Aug. 9 at the age of 55.
Stanford said he was not against honoring Cramer in some way, but he he thought there were alternative options to explore.
“If not now, then when?” board member Tom Fletcher asked. “I’m sure there are others deserving of recognition, but many of them are businesses who sponsor the teams. Denny had a lot of years as an individual volunteer – plain and simple – and I don’t know anyone else” with that many years of volunteerism.
Board member Nancy Poyser pointed out that Cramer had no children of his own, but devoted many hours and much effort to children in the community.
Cramer was the son of the late Wilbur L. and 
Catherine L. (Lynch) Cramer. For most of his life he lived in Churubusco, and as a young man graduated from Bishop Dwenger High School in Fort Wayne with the class of 1971.
He worked at Precision Heat Treat Company in Fort Wayne for over 20 years and was the night supervisor. He loved coaching little league baseball in Churubusco for over 20 years.
Don Hiatt, one of the members of the committee that proposed naming a diamond after Cramer, said he had been to many other communities and “ninety percent of them had a ball diamond named after someone.”
Thor Hodges, another member of the committee, thanked the board for their decision. “This is great,” Hodges said. 
The board will decide later, with the help of the committee, what the exact name of the field will be – maybe Denny Cramer Memorial Field – Hodges said.
In other park board business:
• The board will restart the Summer Park Program next summer with an all sports academy for all ages of children, Stanford said. There will be day camps and training for about half a dozen different types of sports, he said. The park program had been suspended for several years after the teacher in charge retired.
Comments for this article are shown below. Comments on the previous article asking for input on naming the field after Denny Cramer can be read by clicking here …
What was the point of taking public comments on this topic? 100% of the ones returned here on Buscovoice.com were against the decision, and yet you still went and did it. Hum. We will quickly run out of diamonds at this pace. Because there are many other individuals deserving of more.
You let the communities voices fall upon deaf ears.
Bob Amber
If the criteria to have a diamond named after you is to have coached for 25 years the park board better get busy building more diamonds. The park board should have listened to all of the comments concerning this and not just the one of their fellow board member who said since Mr. Cramer had no children of his own donated his time for the good of all children and not just a select few. This comment suggested that every father who coached a daughter or son at the park only cared about them and not the other children which is simply a rude and untrue comment to make. The Park Board should have a stricter criteria for naming a field such as the person should have grown up playing ball, then coached, possibly served on the youth board, or left a large donation to the park.
I guess public opinion doesn’t matter. There have been several coaches and board members who have served many years as well. No one is taking anything away from Mr. Cramer. He has been a good citizen as well as all the other people who have put many years of service into the park. A tree or plaque would have been sufficent.
Not all people left their comments on this page. Some may have spoken directly to park board members,as I did. As a life-long resident of Churubusco and 18-year neighbor of the park, I was in favor of the proposal and I am happy that it was approved. My kitchen window overlooks Diamond 1. I don’t think the average ‘Busco resident realizes just how much time Denny spent at that diamond working with our youth. I know, I could see it. For someone to suggest that a park board member’s comments were rude and untrue is simply rude and untrue. Negativity gets one nowhere. Residents of this community need more positive input and suggestions to achieve positive results.
This was not simply a suggestion. You can go to the comments left under the original article titled, Do you support a memorial to Denny Cramer? Read the comments left there before anything is called a suggestion or untrue.
My husband has coached at this same park for over 20 years, only the past 7 years has he coached his OWN children. He also played ball at the park as a child. Is the ballet box open for Diamond #2????? I have all boys and want to take this opportunity to thank each of the men and women who have coached throughout the years for all of their hard work and dediction to our youth. EVERYONE is greatly appreciated!!!
As a Park Board member, I would like to thank everyone for their comments before the vote.
I did listen to the publics input, both published and private comments.
Other alternatives were offered and the rest of board decided to vote for this project.
I’m sorry the vote didn’t go the way everyone wanted, but maybe if there was more input before the vote, the output might have been different.
If everyone feels so badly against this, anyone of you living in the town limits could be nominated to the Park Board by speaking to your Town Council members, and as the seats are available, you will be considered.
Why is it a requirement to live in city limits to be on the board? More people outside the city limits use the park.
Mostly because the park is funded by Town tax dollars. There are members appointed by the Town Council and one from the Library Board and one from the School Board. In the past, members were from all over because of a lack of interest from town residents. But when there is interest, they are appointed.
I have suggested and I think it will solve a lot of problems: Put up a Memorial Board at Diamond 1 in honor of Mr Cramer with the story of him and his contibutions on this memorial. Also a plaque attached to this so that others can be named and put on this board if they meet criteria that the board should set. I am not saying this man doesn’t deserve some kind of recognition, but I think as everyone else that room will be limited if you honor everyone deserving. I think that this would be a perfect fix to serve everyones concerns. I think the board needs to consider this. If they want an idea of what I am talking about they can go to the CES commons(annex by office) and see an example on the wall by the bathrooms.
Just for the record,not all of the tax money comes from the town of Churubusco. For the past few years Green township of Noble county has given tax money to the park.
Also, in addition to Green Township, Smith Township has donated funds to the park many times.
I think I am right (but not 100% sure), that the park budget is set on the Town’s taxes, but as noted, Green and Smith twsps gift monies over quite regularly.
I think it was a great thing to have diamond 1 named about Mr. Cramer, he was a well deserving man, and coached when he didn’t have to, he cared more about having the kids grow into good athletes rather then just winners. I believe that most people don’t realize how much Mr. Cramer put into the park, the hundreds of kids he coached, and the widsom he shared.
I am on the park board And I read all the coments from the first artical.But I also talked to a lot of people that dont have internet. And my vote for yes was based on a majorty of the ones I talked too wanted the ball diamond to be named after Mr Cramer. But I enjoy ever ones input on the matter.
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