N. Philly kids get a Gridiron of Dreams

IN 2010, WHEN the North Philly Blackhawks won the Pop Warner Pee Wee National Championship, Mayor Nutter stood on their dirt-and-stones field and promised to build them a new home.

This afternoon, standing with the Blackhawks on the clean, green artificial turf of their new $2.5 million Gridiron of Dreams, the mayor will keep his promise.

The Blackhawks will share the new field on 11th Street near Cecil B. Moore Avenue with St. Joseph's Prep, which added $400,000 to the mayor's $1.8 million to help move the project from wish to fulfillment.

The city's Parks & Recreation and Water departments, the Philadelphia Eagles and City Council President Darrell Clarke were all major funders.

Late last week, Blackhawks coaches got a sneak peek at their future field and reminisced about their former one.

"Our old field was nicknamed the Dust Bowl," said Don Richardson, 60, director of the Blackhawks Athletic Club, which serves 300 boys and girls on eight football teams and five cheer squads.

"It was all rocks, glass and dirt," recalled Derrick Williams, 32, who coaches the 90-to-120-pound national championship team and has been a Blackhawk since his playing days in the mid-'90s. "Whenever a kid ran on that field, he kicked up a cloud of dust like the Road Runner."

Richardson laughed, remembering. "Dust in your eyes, dust up your nose, dust in your mouth," he said.

Williams said that after coaching the Blackhawks for 10 years, the dust might still be in his lungs, which isn't a good thing. "Never knew what was in that dust," he said.

"In the rain," Richardson said, "the dirt turned to mud and the water ran down the middle of the field from the 20 to the 20, hash mark to hash mark."

Last season, during the long construction process, the Blackhawks played their home games at Scanlon Rec field in Harrowgate.

"All season, the kids kept asking, 'Is our field done? Can we go run the steps?' " Richardson said, laughing.

"I told them, 'No. It's a hard-hat area,'" he said. "I think they missed the grit and grime."

Williams said, "I would take our bad home field over anyone else's home field any day - because it's home."

While the men talked, Williams' son Ameen, 5, ran around the field, playing catch with a couple of other Blackhawks.

"Wide receiver," said Richardson. The kid's 5 and Richardson already had him slotted.

"You get a position when you first come here," Richardson said. "If I identify you as a lineman, you're a lineman."

Williams laughed and pointed out that Richardson took one look at a 7-year-old named Fred Blow-Tidings and made him a running back for life.

But a couple of years later, Williams saw Blow-Tidings playing catch and knew he was a quarterback - which he was when he led the Blackhawks to a national championship.

"That one got away from me," Richardson admitted. "Very few get away from me."

The two Blackhawks lifers looked out at their spectacular new field, which glowed in the late-afternoon light with the promise of good times to come.

"The Dust Bowl is gone," Williams said. "We may have lost our home-field advantage."

Richardson smiled. "New season starts in late July," he said. "I can't wait for the kids to enjoy this. It's going to be a sight to see."