Time out with T.O. – The nightmare and a field of dreams

It’s a nightmare for any parent — you get the call in the middle of the night that something bad has happened to your child.

Tom O’Connor

For Rick and Gwen Blum that call came on Jan. 3, 2009, when their 20-year-old son Logan was killed in a car accident about 15 miles from the Blums’ home in Walnut, Iowa.

“It’s tough,” said Rick Blum, longtime administrator in the UNMC OB/GYN department. “You take it one day at a time.”

A year-and-a-half later, the Blums have figured out a way to keep Logan’s memory alive while doing something to benefit the 900 people who call Walnut home.

You’ve heard of the Field of Dreams. Well, the Blums just put the finishing touches on their own Field of Dreams.

UNMC’s Rick Blum and other volunteers in Walnut, Iowa, have constructed this baseball/softball field in honor of Blum’s son, Logan, who was killed in a car wreck in January 2009.

Working nearly every day off over the past eight weeks, the Blums and several others created a baseball/softball field in Walnut that will accommodate baseball players up to fourth grade and softball players up to sixth grade.

It fills a major void for Walnut.

“Walnut has had two larger fields, but the high school kids always get the first shot at using these fields,” Rick Blum said. “The younger kids have to work around the high school schedules. Usually, this means just practicing in the grass.”

For Rick, the field has been a labor of love and a way to honor his son’s playful spirit.

Logan Blum

“Logan’s favorite sport was baseball,” Rick said. “He was a hyper kid. He didn’t like to watch sports at all. He would much rather play.”

Blum and many others helped raised money for the field through a softball tournament last summer and a grant from the Iowa West Foundation. In addition, he and other local volunteers did much of the work on the field, utilizing donated equipment and materials whenever possible.

“It’s been therapeutic for me,” he said. “I’ve spent about every waking moment on it. People say I’m obsessed, but we had a deadline to make.”

That deadline is June 22 — the date when the field – called Logan’s Little Field — will be officially dedicated.

That day, an old fashioned scoreboard – featuring numbers that are manually hung after each inning – will be unveiled with Logan’s name gracing it. It’s also the Blums’ 25th wedding anniversary. The field is a fitting tribute to his son, Blum said.

“I have to think he’s smiling from ear to ear right now.”