MOUNTAIN VIEW (KGTV) — Mountain View Community Park has a new name, honoring a man who left a lasting mark on San Diego.
Neal Petties was a San Diego State football star in the 1960s and spent three years in the NFL with the Baltimore Colts — but his legacy goes beyond the field. Petties also spent 25 years with the city's Parks and Recreation Department.
Three years after city leaders voted to rename the park in his honor, a new sign was unveiled with his name on it. The city also declared Sept. 19 Neal Petties Day.
Petties' family, dressed in matching shirts, came together for the ribbon cutting to celebrate his legacy.
"I'm just proud because you know he's not here to see it. I wish he really was able to finally see his name.. His work being honored," his daughter, Sherie Petties Jackson, said.
Community members also turned out to honor the man they remember from their childhoods.
"Neil was the one that deserved this more than anybody. All of us when we was kids, Neil was there for all of us like father," Jeffrey Hayes, who lives in the Mountain View community, said.
Hayes also remembered Petties' dedication to the park and the people in it.
"He was the one that bought the bands here. He bought the band truck. When they took the band truck, he went and got it, found it, and made sure it came back here every Sunday," Hayes said.
Petties' son, Anthony Petties, said he hopes the park can return to the way it once was.
"If we could bring it back to the days like of old, where on Sundays, this place was filled to the brim and, you know, it would be wonderful," Anthony Petties said.
Petties Jackson said she hopes her father's work continues to inspire the community for years to come.
"I want the legacy to carry on that anybody that's underprivileged gets the privilege and just every all his work stays," Petties Jackson said.
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