A new sign is the latest step in the revitalization of a city park that once saw complaints of drug activity and vandalism.

A sign that reads “James ‘Fuzzy’ Johnson Memorial Park” now stands at the entrance of Mission 66 Park, at Mission 66 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Johnson, who died in 2009 at age 65, had worked in the city’s Parks and Recreation Department for 33 years before retiring as director in 1994. Also, he had volunteered with youth sports leagues since the 1950s.

“He was a legend,” said Glen Palmer, 53, who grew up in the area and played baseball at the park when he was a child. “He was a like father to all of us. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know where I would be right now.”

Palmer, a retiree of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with 22 years of service, is part of a group of men led by Ernest Galloway that has pushed for the park’s progression and the re-start of youth baseball leagues.

Johnson “would be so proud to know that some of the young people that he influenced have come back to influence these young kids,” said Galloway, whose pleas to the city and community have led to field restorations and maintenance, sports equipment donations and a change in the negative reputation of the park.

“We got the dugouts redone, the press box redone, the grass cut,” said Galloway, who last year coached in the park’s first youth baseball league in about four years. About 52 kids participated.

“The city did it,” Galloway said of the park’s revitalization. “They helped us. I had to stay with them and plead with them and dig with them.”

Mayor Paul Winfield played ball there when he was a boy and said he knew Johnson.

“We’re happy about the progress of the park,” the mayor said. “Not only did we have the park cleaned, we’ve also beautified the area.”

Support has come from businesses and parents of other youth sports organizations around town, Winfield said. Also, in June, Brown Bottling Group of Ridgeland donated $18,000 to the city for the purchase of a new scoreboard. City Parks and Recreation director Joe Graves said the board will be installed in the spring, in time for the summer baseball season.

“We’re hoping to expand, make improvements and renovations to the park where people have pride in their facility,” said Graves, adding that upgrades are coming for the park’s basketball court, and more benches and picnic tables will likely be installed.

“When people see what we’ve done, they’re going to be eager to bring their kids out here,” Palmer said. “We have some good people around us. We can’t ever let this fall apart again.”