Matty’s field of dreams comes true

“Out of our darkness came light,” Jan Malkowski told a large crowd Saturday afternoon at the dedication of the new Grafton Little League baseball field.

She and family knows the phrase well. They are living it.

Matt Malkowski, Jan and Dave’s 18-year-old son, was driving home when his car struck by a drunken driver on March 12, 2010, and he fell into a coma. He died on April 30.

Jan said her son had an infectious smile and he gave the best hugs. He was recruited to play football and baseball at Concordia University in Chicago, where he planned to study fire science. He had already joined the Grafton Fire Department, working alongside his father.

Despite tears that Jan said don’t stop, the family found a way to memorialize their son in the form of a scholarship but money ran out after two years.

Mel’s Charities Executive Director Tom Stanton, whom they had not met before, assured the family money would be there.

A meeting with then Grafton Little League President Jerry Faust in 2016 presented an opportunity for a physical memory. A baseball field with a $50,000 price tag was being built but it was taking a long time. The Malkowskis thought they could raise the money and name the field after Matt.

Sold-out bean bag tournaments raised thousands more than expected. A car raffle from Mel’s Charities brought in another $17,000, and the goal was met in four years.

The cost of the field, however, had increased to more than $250,000.

“There are no words to express our gratitude to Mike Ansay and Associates,” Jan said. “Without this amazing man, his generosity and his team, we would not be standing here today.”

Stanton said Ansay, after hearing the Malkowskis speak at an event, grabbed his arm and told him, “‘Get this done.’”

Then Ansay and his team stepped up to the plate. They handled all the paperwork the Plan Commission required.

“Two weeks later, we’re putting a shovel in the ground,” Stanton said.
 

Ansay completed excavation and an extra 150 parking spots.

The Matt Malkowski Memorial Baseball Field was opened for play this summer.

“We did it,” Jan said. “We built Matty’s field of dreams.

“They say it takes a village, and our village stood behind us, beginning to end.”

Dave read the heartfelt message he wrote to Matt that’s inscribed on one of three plaques at the field. Matt’s sister Emily said the field is a “physical part of Matt that we’ll be able to hold onto forever.”

Ansay said he loved baseball as a boy.

“From Matt’s life, the experience going forward for generation after generation of Little League, as his father said, will create values far beyond what we realize and create family experiences that will make their lives fulfilled,” Ansay said.

Stanton cited community support, especially Port Washington State Bank, and remembered what he told the Malkowski family when they first met.

“I said, ‘Keep the faith,’” Stanton said. “You never know what can happen ... and this is what happens,” he said.

In addition to the field, bleachers named for Tim Schuster, one of Malkowski’s Little League teammates, were dedicated. Schuster became ill and died from suicide on Dec. 10, 2008. He was 17.

“Always hang in there. The help is there,” his mother Claire told the crowd. She thanked Stanton for making mental health resources available at Grafton High School.

Rose Harms American Legion Post 1355 held a ceremony to donate an American flag and a flagpole. A Catholic deacon blessed the field.

Teammates from Grafton’s 2010 baseball team and the Fire Department played a softball game in honor of Malkowski.