Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, holds up a trophy awarded to the House on March 21, 2024 for defeating the Alabama Senate in a softball game the previous evening by a score of 13-1. A softball stadium at Northeast Alabama Community College will be named for the speaker, who helped secure $7 million for its construction. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
The Alabama Community College System Board of Trustees voted Wednesday to authorize to name a softball stadium at Northeast Alabama Community College in Rainsville for House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville.
“Speaker Ledbetter was instrumental in securing the special appropriations that provide funding for the women’s softball stadium,” said Goodrich Rogers, the chair of the board and district 5. “Speaker Ledbetter is a long standing supporter of Northeast Alabama community college system and Alabama community college system.”
The appropriation comes from a 2023 supplemental bill for the Education Trust Fund, which appropriated $7 million for the stadium. The school also received $8 million for a workforce training center.
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Northeast Alabama Community College President David Campbell wrote in an email Wednesday that the stadium, expected to seat over 400 people in grandstands and 500 with chair sideline seating, should cost between $9 and $10 million.
“It is built with plans to house local, state, and regional tournaments, and as such it is a economic development (tourism) project in addition to providing [for a] college women’s team,” he wrote. “The stadium is named in honor of Speaker Ledbetter for him for being such an outstanding public servant.”
Ledbetter said in a statement Wednesday that he looks forward to continuing efforts to help students realize their full potential and success.
“Northeast Alabama Community College is a pillar of our community, and I’m immensely grateful that this incredible institution has decided to name its softball field in my honor,” he wrote.
Ledbetter’s daughter-in-law is employed at the college.
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