Community calendar Colorful new murals grace once-dilapidated park courts
Community helped make the need for new playing surfaces into a reality
Precious little is required to run a game of pickup basketball.
A decent court with dueling rims, an orange and a handful of hoopsters do the trick.
Take one away and good luck getting some burn.
Unless you’re the regulars at Elizabeth Davis Park in Colton, that is.
Until recently, one of the basketball courts off Laurel Drive was missing a rim. Cracks and slip spots marred the playing surface. Game lines painted years ago had long disappeared.
In a recent interview, a city official could not recall the last improvements made at the 6-acre park.
And yet, the regulars there managed.
Then, longtime resident Victor Corral put out a call for help.
A Colton High graduate, avid hoopster and organizer of weekly open runs at Elizabeth Davis Park, Corral, 35, sold basketball shorts from his Fentwood Hoops brand early last year to buy a replacement backboard and rim. Then, in September, he launched a GoFundMe page soliciting $40,000 to fully renovate the courts.
“This is where I grew up playing as a kid and is now home to our open runs that we host every week for our community,” he wrote. “These courts are used everyday and are not in the best shape. …
“Together we can make this happen!”
After Corral posted his plea online, a mutual friend connected him with Kareem Gongora, a San Bernardino County planning commissioner.
Together, they and local representatives brainstormed ways to restore the courts.
Their quest ultimately caught the attention of Blue Shield of California, which committed $15,000 — enough for a new blacktop — to the cause through Operation New Hope.
Late last year, Project Backboard, a nonprofit whose mission is to renovate public basketball courts and install large scale, site-specific artwork on the surface, heard Corral’s story and, in partnership with Five Star Basketball, chipped in an additional $40,000.
Without hesitation, Colton decision makers gave the project their blessing.
Corral and S.A.V.E. Surfacing restored the playing surfaces earlier this year, and last month about 200 people marked the debut of the newly-renovated courts with a ribbon cutting and youth basketball game.
The finished product “is about the community coming together and taking pride in our city,” Corral said. “I hope this inspires everyone to unite, dream big and invest in our youth.”
While striking at ground level, the vibrant murals on the Elizabeth
Davis Park courts must be seen from above.
As designed by Corral and Project Backboard, “Colton” is spelled out in block letters on both blacktops — once in the city’s trademark maroon and yellow, once in orange and two shades of green. White helps complete the design on both courts.
The colorful murals symbolize pride for the community, Gongora said.
In addition to the money raised to complete the court renovation, Colton has received $1.7 million from the county to improve all amenities at Elizabeth Davis Park.
Work is expected to begin this summer.
“This is a powerful story about dreaming big, having a vision and the power of grassroots, which is bringing people together for the betterment of the community,” Gongora said. “Ultimately, the people of the community came together to make this happen.”