By Jeff Vorva
Groundbreaking took place last week at Schussler Park for the Michael Schofield III Sports Complex, which is a part of a massive renovation of the park.
Schofield has a naming rights and sponsorship agreement through the Kendall and Michael Schofield Family Foundation and the complex will feature an artificial turf area with two fields for football, soccer and lacrosse use. The Orland Park Pioneers football organization will be one of the area athletic groups that will call it home.
There will also be an all-inclusive playground built.
“Our goal was always to leave an impact on the community,” Schofield said June 29. “I can’t think of a more meaningful thing than what we’re doing.”
Schofield is a Sandburg graduate who played in the NFL, won a Super Bowl ring as a starting lineman for Denver and last year played for the Chicago Bears. He is hoping to latch onto a team for another season but thus far is unsigned.
Flash back to many years ago …
“I started out playing for the Pioneers in sixth grade,” Schofield said. “I wasn’t a football player. I thought I was a better baseball player and my younger brother, Andrew, signed up for football and the coaches were like, ‘Why aren’t you signing up?’ I was pretty tall.
“They convinced me to sign up for football and the rest is history.”
Schofield’s wife, women’s hockey Olympic hero Kendall Coyne Schofield, had a park named in her honor in her home town of Palos Heights last year.
She gave birth to their first child, a boy named Drew, on July 1.
