Our Story

For the Love of the Game

You've heard of paying it forward. Bob Hellman, founder of Build Our Ballpark, is playing it forward.

Hellman's lifelong passion has been baseball – playing it, watching it, sharing it with others … living and breathing it.

"Growing up on the east side of Waterloo, Iowa, I lived just twelve blocks away from the current location of Dr. Walter Cunningham School for Excellence," said Hellman. "It was there that my lifelong passion for baseball was born. As a little league player all those years ago, I remember I lived for baseball. I also remember most often having to ride my bike to other parts of town to play ball."

As the founder and CEO of a successful advertising agency, Hellman decided he needed to give back to the game that had given him so much. He was excited when the opportunity arose to build a showcase ball field at the Cunningham School near his childhood home.

"The timing seemed right to do something like this," said Hellman, whose advertising agency was celebrating its 40th anniversary, and had been a Partner in Education with the Dr. Walter Cunningham School for Excellence since it opened in 2002.

Hellman and his family committed $75,000 toward the development of a field to be used by area little leaguers and women's softball players. He and staff members, along with the school, City of Waterloo, donors and area citizens, worked to make the dream become a reality.

Hellman Field, as it was dubbed, features a totally equipped baseball field, including spectator bleachers, an electronic scoreboard, lights for nighttime games, beautiful landscaping, an outfield fence, and dugouts for the players.

The ballpark hit a home run with the community. Bob realized that if he and other community-minded citizens could build a ballpark here, it could be done anywhere there is a need. So in 2008, he established Build Our Ballpark, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to reenergize youth baseball programs and ensure that enthusiasm for America's national pastime never fades.