Lee Jordan Field

Looking in at Lee Jordan Field from down the left-field line, Jun-2019.

The view from just to the left of home plate.

• Location: Loretta French Sports Complex, Old Glenn Highway, Chugiak, Alaska (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: Unknown
• Additional names: Lee Jordan Field (2016)
• Home teams: Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks, Alaska League

A newspaperman, he worked for a paper in Anchorage before moving to Chugiak and starting a weekly paper there that would cover Chugiak and Eagle River. The two communities were briefly united as a town, and Jordan was its mayor, before all the outlying communities in Anchorage Borough consolidated their governments with the city to form the Municipality of Anchorage in 1975.

Jordan also found himself involved with the formation of baseball programs (Little League, Babe Ruth, American Legion) in Chugiak. In 2011, Loretta French Park in Chugiak was where he brought an exhibition game between the Athletes in Action Fire, then an independent college summer team playing in Fairbanks, and the Anchorage Glacier Pilots of the Alaska Baseball League. The one-off went so well that Jordan arranged to relocate the Fire to Chugiak and rename them the Chinooks. The field, which started off as a natural field but has since received an infield of artificial turf, was named for Jordan in 2016. Jordan died in 2018 having lived a full life in service to his community.

Meanwhile, the Chinooks continue to be sponsored by Athletes in Action, a Christian ministry out of Ohio, which vets all the players assigned to the team. The club does not charge admission to its games, unlike the rest of the Alaska League. A local organization like the Knights of Columbus runs a nightly 50/50 drawing, and there are also door prizes provided by sponsors.

All five fields in the Loretta French complex are unlighted. Late-season games here start an hour earlier to account for the receding sun.