August 27, 2025 | Articles Homepage News Philanthropy
How Tom Gores, Detroit Pistons are bringing baseball to a Flint neighborhood: ‘(They) understand what we’re trying to do’
FLINT, Mich. — Earlier this summer, Lloyd Turner happily watched his grandson, Ace, adorned in his red Jackson Park Youth jersey, take swings at a T-ball set on a sunny day surrounded by other youngsters.
Turner, who played in high school and collegiately, said watching his grandson play is heartwarming.
“He’s in his second year and he seems to really like it,” Turner said of the six-year-old. “He seems to enjoy the more social aspect of it since he gets to be around other kids, but we’ll see how he progresses if he continues to stay in it, but I think he will.
“It’s fun to see him out there enjoying it. I won’t push him into something just because I did it as a kid, but his mom has been teaching him about some of the things I did and so it’s just a full circle moment.”
Ace is just one of the summer attendees of the Jackson Park Youth League baseball program. Jackson Park Youth is a Flint-based organization that promotes baseball and structured summer activities for Flint inner city kids at Hardenbrook Park. The organization coined the nickname “Jackson Park” after East Jackson Avenue where the park is located.
Jackson Park Youth was one of five Flint area-based organizations to receive $5,000 grants as part of the Tom Gores-sponsored “Be Impactful” initiative last season. Gores, the Pistons owner who grew up in the Flint area, and the Detroit Pistons selected the groups, who also were invited to enjoy a Pistons game night.
The “Be Impactful” program is an initiative that is close to Tom Gores’ heart,” Pistons Chief People Officer Nicolet Lewis said earlier this year. “It’s a program that he brought to life to help give back to his hometown of Flint and give deserving non-profit organizations an opportunity to see a Pistons game in a special way and to recognize them for their great work.”
The initiative serves as a way for Gores to give back to the community where he was raised after immigrating from Israel as a small child.
Jackson Park Youth President Ronnie Russell said: “It’s really emotional for us to be acknowledged by someone like Tom. He’s from this city and even though he’s in basketball, he understands what we’re trying to do.”
‘We love the program’
Russell and his colleagues trace their first memories of Hardenbrook Park to the late 1960s when they were small children.
“We’d play basketball and football here,” Russell said. “It was our park; I lived two blocks from this park and my best friend lived across the street.”
“We played here every day.”
The park looks a little bit different since they adopted the park in 2010. The park features freshly mowed grass, a baseball field and a playground filled with children of all ages in baseball attire as families gather for picnics under the gazebo thanks to the ongoing commitment of the Jackson Park organization.
“We love the program because he gets to be around kids his age,” Ace’s mother, Alana, said. “I want him to eventually play like his grandad and it’s just fun; the environment is warm, and we have so many good times out here.”
The maintenance of the park evolved into an affordable summer baseball program for ages 5 to 12. Weekly practices are divided by age range and skill level. Games are played on Saturdays throughout the summer.
“My parents signed me up for T-ball when I was five or six years old and I’ve been playing ever since then,” 14-year-old Michael Marshall said. “I like baseball because I get to hit the ball, and I like running to the bases.”
According to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition Science, participation in youth sports has long-term mental, social, academic and physical health benefits.
“You never know where some of these kids come from or how they’re living at home so to give them a chance to mentor them, be a friend, be someone they can laugh with and teach them how to release their emotions into baseball can be uplifting,” Russell said.
According to Russell, grants like the Be Impactful initiative go toward jerseys, trips, coaching staff compensation and covering the costs of kid participation.
“It’s a commitment, but a lot of my coaching staff have been together for years and we aren’t tired of it,” Russell said. “We’re always looking for ways to make the program better because we love baseball.”
The four other recipients were homelessness nonprofit Shelter of Flint, Westwood Heights – McMonagle Afterschool, A Kid Again and Big Brother Big Sisters of Greater Flint. The Pistons partnered with the United Way of Genesee County to organize the game nights.