Palm field - "home of the huskies"

Construction on a renovated Central Park and new varsity baseball field for the City of St. Anthony and St. Anthony Village High School began in the fall of 2001. As part of a joint effort by the City of St. Anthony and Independent School District #282, a park complex with four playing fields (built for multi-sport versatility) was constructed. For two years St. Anthony teams played games solely on the road as they waited for their new homes to be built.

During this two year time period, the Huskies Dugout Club (high school parent group) underwent a massive campaign to improve the field under construction. With significant financial support from the St. Anthony Sports Boosters, NE Minneapolis Lions, Tri-City American Legion, Washburn-McReavy Funeral Chapels, Minnesota Twins Community Fund, and the Dugout Club, new dugouts, a concession stand, foul poles, spruce trees, and other on-field improvements were added to the field.

In addition to thousands of volunteer hours by team members, parents, fans, and coaches, Mike Therres and the NE Lions, with LaMere Concrete were major contributors to the field’s improvement projects. Under the direction and leadership of Therres, the dugouts, concession stand, and concrete work became some of the field’s most impressive features.

The first home game on the new field was on April 23rd, 2004. The Huskies dropped the contest in eight innings to Fridley High School. Dan Kaczrowski (class of 2005) recorded the first base hit and run scored and Dan Schober (class of 2005) hit the first homerun at the new ballpark.

On May 8th of 2004 the field was officially dedicated. As part of the celebration, the Minnesota Twins TC Bear and KARE 11's Eric Perkins made special appearances. Throwing out first pitches were: Mike Therres (LaMere Concrete), George Zurbey (Sports Boosters), Jeff Schrempf (NE Minneapolis Lions), Tri-City American Legion Honor Guard, Missy Soderberg and Chris Schober (Huskies Dugout Club), Bill McReavy (Washburn-McReavy Funeral Chapels), and Gary Palm (SAVHS Athletic Director). The official ceremonial first pitch to open the field was thrown by Frank Quilici, former Minnesota Twin player and manager, representing the Twins Community Fund.

After retiring as a Teacher, Coach, and Athletic Director for 36 years at SAVHS, as part of school board resolution the field was officially named for Gary Palm on April 8th 2006. That day the newly named "Palm Field" unveiled its scoreboard for the first time for the occasion marked by remarks from City and School leaders.

In the fall of 2007 "Home of the Huskies" was added as a distinguishing feature of the school's exterior overlooking Palm Field. Perhaps the largest construction project on Palm Field came in 2010 courtesy of a Hennepin County Youth Sports Grant.  St. Anthony - New Brighton Schools were awarded $345,000 to construct stadium seating, add lighting, and build a spectator deck behind right field on Palm Field.  Other projects included in the grant were stadium seats on the varsity softball field and lighting on Central Park's C3 field.  Also contributing funding to match the Hennepin County Youth Sports Program Grant were the St. Anthony Sports Boosters, St. Anthony Baseball Association, St. Anthony Huskies Diamond Club (high school softball, and Huskies Dugout Club (high school baseball).

On May 17th, 2010 a ribbon cutting ceremony was held to celebrate the Central Park field improvements.  Highlighting the ceremony was the delivery of games balls via helicopter to Mayor Jerry Faust, School Board Chairperson Barry Kinsey, and Hennepin County Commissioners Mark Stenglein and Peter McLaughlin.