To: Lawrence City Commission

From: Chuck Woodling (cwoodling@ljworld.com)

  Please consider this my formal request to change the name of North Park Street in Lawrence to Ralph Houk Street.

  Ralph Houk, born in Lawrence in 1919, is a member of the Lawrence High School Hall of Fame and the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. He was a major league baseball manager for 24 years and was never fired. Houk was also a general manager with the New York Yankees for many years.

  Moreover, Houk was a World War II combat soldier who earned numerous military honors, including a Purple Heart, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star.

  My reason for suggesting North Park Street be changed to Ralph Houk Street is that the South Park baseball diamonds where Houk played baseball as a youth were adjacent to North Park Street.

  During his lifetime, Ralph Houk did nothing but distinguish himself as a leader of men. He is a native son who, I believe, should have been honored in a meaningful way by the city long ago. In fact, I would go as far to suggest that the northwest portion of South Park, where the ball diamonds once existed, be designated as Ralph Houk Field.