Ice Field isn’t looking too spiffy these days.

Weeds and brown spots dot the grassy landscape of the city-owned baseball diamond in the southeast quadrant of Holcom Sports Complex. And the tiny, minimal scoreboard above the left-field fence is so old it still contains a Pepsi sign. The city long ago switched its soft-drink affiliation to Coca-Cola.

On the plus side, the city plans to re-grade, re-seed and renovate Ice Field, and, if all goes well, the aging facility will have a new and improved scoreboard next spring, too.

You guessed it. The city doesn’t have the money for the scoreboard, and that’s where Lee Ice and a committee of former Legion and Lawrence High players – Ice Field also is the home of the Lions – come in. They hope to raise nearly $20,000 to erect a scoreboard behind the right-center-field fence.

“Not only is the Pepsi sign outdated,” Ice told me, “but the scoreboard never should have been placed in left field, because when the sun’s shining you can’t see it.”

Ice is the son and nephew of Ice Field’s namesakes, Al and Tony Ice. I’m sure hundreds of youths have played at Ice Field not knowing – or caring – why the ballyard is named Ice Field. Heck, for all I know, some of them may even think it was built during the Ice Age or was the first ballpark in Lawrence with a concession stand serving ice.

Lee’s dad died tragically in 1979. Al Ice was only 50 years old when he was the victim of a heart attack. Tony Ice, his brother, is now 85 and lives in rural Lawrence. The Ice brothers spent many years coaching youth baseball, primarily the Lawrence Legion Hawks.

Now Lee Ice, who is the city’s youth sports supervisor and whose office at the Holcom Rec Center is a stone’s throw from Ice Field, is leading the charge to erect the scoreboard as a memorial to another former Legion baseball coach, Gale Armbrister, who died last year of a rare and incurable brain disease at the age of 60.

Ice says his group already has raised $5,000 from the Ice families, the Holcom Baseball Assn. and Lawrence High baseball boosters. Now, they’re appealing to everyone who ever has played at Ice Field – or wishes they had – to make a contribution.

In addition, they’re seeking support from businesses by offering them space on the scoreboard in increments of one year to forever.

If you’re wondering, the new board will be similar to the one located at Free State High’s baseball facility. Free State’s diamond is used by the Firebirds and by the two upper-division Legion teams.

Ice Field receives more usage in the summer, however, because it’s the home field of the two lower-division Legion teams as well as Holcom and Ice league teams.

“In the summer,” Lee Ice said, “we have 16 games a week on the field. It’s really overused, but it’s the only other large field the city has.”

Someday, the city hopes to build a new youth baseball complex on Youth Sports Inc. land in the southwest part of town, but don’t hold your breath. That facility was proposed five years ago, and, says Ice, “We’re no closer today than we were then.”

In the meantime, why not cut a check? Send it to the Gale Armbrister Memorial Fund, Lawrence Parks and Recreation, 947 N.H., Suite 200B, Lawrence, 66044.