The guy who saved East Nashville youth sports — and put fun and friendship back on the field

"I will treat others as I wish to be treated by not abusing or taunting other players, referees, umpires, coaches or spectators." — East Nashville Athletics player code of conduct

After the argument got louder and louder, a fight broke at the T-ball game. Not between players.

Two dads started throwing punches until the head football coach of a nearby high school flew out of the stands to break it up.

At the next field over, businessman Darrell Downs, cheering on his 11-year-old, watched the melee, his mouth open.

Downs and his family had just moved from North Carolina and just signed his kid up for East Nashville's Jess Neely little league. His wife, Denise, wondered aloud, "What the hell are we doing here?"

For the rest of that season in 2012, the Downs saw fights at about half of the games.

"Parents were yelling and screaming at umpires, yelling at their kids, yelling at other people’s kids," Darrell Downs said. "It was chaos."

"I didn't feel safe," his wife added.

The problems went beyond the fights.

Two of the eight teams had hoarded East Nashville's star players, so most games were lopsided and miserable for losing players. Those top teams often ran up the score, beating opponents by as many as 30 runs.

Darrell Downs started looking for other youth sports programs around Nashville for his kids.

At the same time, he started volunteering to take care of the baseball fields that the Jess Neely league used at Shelby Park, mowing the grass, dragging the dirt, putting chalk lines on base paths. He even coached a game here and there.

His wife started helping sell drinks and snacks in the league's concessions stands.

At the end of the season, the league president gathered the active volunteers, announced he was quitting and handed a box of Jess Neely finance forms and other paperwork to Darrell and Denise Downs.

"We knew it was a mess," Darrell Downs said.

What they did with that mess inspired and delighted thousands of parents, even those whose kids aren't athletes.

The epic turnaround reinvigorated youth sports in East Nashville and shifted the emphasis to having fun and building bonds among neighbors.

"It's way bigger than baseball," said longtime volunteer and former Jess Neely player Jamaal Stewart, the high school football coach who broke up that 2012 T-ball game fight.

"They use baseball as a vessel to create a positive culture in the community."

Well shucks, Darrell Downs said, he's just just doing how his daddy taught him in their idyllic North Carolina town, one that looks and feels just like the fictitious Mayberry from 1960s sitcom "The Andy Griffith Show."

And if you get Downs talking about his daddy, you'll probably see a tear or two leak out of his eyes.

'More about relationship than winning'

"I will listen to my coach and accept his/her advice with respect." — East Nashville Athletics player code of conduct

His 82-year-old father, Harry Downs, still lives in Pilot Mountain, population 1,431, about 24 miles north of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (It's not far from Mount Airy, the town that did inspire Mayberry).

When Darrell Downs was growing up, his dad was baseball coach for the closest high school. And Coach Downs valued hustle and sportsmanship above all else — shake the other team's hands at the end of the game, respect your opponent and concentrate on what you're doing instead of talking crap about the other guys.

"I’ve never heard him say a disparaging word about any human being on the planet," Darrell Downs said, his voice breaking.

An athlete for as long as he can remember, Downs got his first taste of coaching kids when he was in high school after an injury put him on the bench. He helped a buddy's dad run a team of 10-year-olds.

"I just loved seeing the kids smile, helping run the practices, seeing those kids get better," he said.

"I can’t tell you how many games we won or lost, but I remember their names. It was more about relationship than winning."

Downs studied finance at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and launched a successful career as a paper and packaging company manager. (Think Michael Scott of Dunder Mifflin from TV's "The Office," only mature and competent).

While he played rec league softball and basketball, Downs didn't get back into coaching youth sports until he met his wife in 2008 and they started raising their children.

When the family moved from North Carolina to Nashville in 2012, Downs signed his son up for Jess Neely baseball. (The league was named for a well-known college football coach from the mid 1900s who was from Smyrna, Tennessee). At season's end, he and his wife started digging through that bin to figure out what to do with the mess they were handed.

'Who the f... do you think you are?'

"I will not question an umpire or referee." — East Nashville Athletics player code of conduct

An accountant and a lawyer helped sort through the papers. The bin has a bunch of unpaid bills, mostly for uniforms, bills that totaled around $10,000. The nonprofit status paperwork wasn't properly filed. Schedules and rosters were unorganized.

The Downses decided to disband Jess Neely and start all over again. A fresh start and a new name would help change the culture on the fields at Shelby Park, they figured.

But first, Darrell Downs wanted to settle things with creditors because that was the right thing to do, and he hoped to work with some of the same vendors for his new East Nashville Athletics organization. After negotiating away part of the debt, Downs paid $3,500 out of his pocket to help take care of the rest.

Then they created a website. Then they came up with codes of conduct, one for players and one for parents. Then they gathered about 10 Jess Neely coaches and laid out the vision for the new youth sports league.

No more arguing or fighting or swearing. No more stacking a few teams with the best players. No more running up scores. No more keeping score for the youngest players' games.

The new league would emphasize sportsmanship, fun and community building, Downs told the coaches. Teams would be balanced with players of various talent levels so all games will be competitive. Any adults not on board with the changes would be banned from participating in East Nashville Athletics.

The meeting didn't go well.

"It was a lot of 'F... you!' and 'Who the f... do you think you are?'" Downs said. "I wondered whether I was going to get out of that meeting safely."

Only three of the 10 coaches at the meeting joined the new league.

'Where's the fighting, where are the cigarettes?'

"I will play with control and not lose my temper or use profane language." — East Nashville Athletics player code of conduct

Still, Darrell and Denise Downs moved forward with paying off debt, registering players for the next season, reaching an agreement with Metro Parks to use Shelby Park, repairing the fields, hiring umpires and buying new uniforms.

Denise Downs decided to throw a big opening day party to launch the next season, an event open to any East Nashville family as a way to introduce ENA.

A few arguments broke out during games that first season, but they were quickly quashed. Only one parent has ever been ejected from ENA games, though she ended up setting up a lawn chair on the other side of the outfield fence and cheering from there.

The Downses added some playground equipment around the fields so players' siblings would have something to do during games.

Longtime East Nashville residents welcomed the friendlier atmosphere, and newcomers appreciated the diversity and inclusion of players from every demographic of the changing 37206 population.

In the 12 years since, the couple paid off Jess Neely's $10,000 debt, quadrupled the number of baseball teams, added five more sports — including all-gender flag football and track — and started paying registration fees for families who can't afford them.

The Downses also have given rides to players from struggling families, even keeping a few of those kids overnight now and then when things got tricky for the boys at home.

And the opening-day parties have become Middle Tennessee's best, with bounce houses, balloons, DJs, food, face painting and appearances by some of Nashville's major league sports team mascots, T-Rac from the Tennessee Titans and Gnash from the Predators.

Most important, parents and neighbors say — the Downses succeeded in shifting the emphasis away from winning toward sportsmanship, having fun and building community.

East Nashville musician/graduate student Brett Vargason, 56, said he was blown away when he brought his then 8-year-old son, Thomas, to ENA in 2013.

"There was kindness and encouragement that was completely different from what I heard about how the youth league was run before," Vargason said. "I'm like, where’s the fighting, where are the cigarettes?"

Vargason said he also appreciated how coaches and other parents welcomed his son, even though the boy had no experience playing baseball. What really made Vargason happy, though, were the friendships his son made.

"Twelve years later, and my son still hangs out with kids he met at that park," he said.

'You get a new friend every week'

"I will remember that the goal of the games is to have fun, improve skills, and feel good about myself and my teammates." — East Nashville Athletics player code of conduct

High school football coach Stewart, now the associate athletic director at the private Pope Saint John Paul II school in Hendersonville, stayed on as an ENA volunteer since its inception because he supports what the Downses have done for his old neighborhood.

"I love the changes," he said.

"The park looks amazing, with brand new dugouts, new fields, new energy. There's so much excitement! You can speak with people, laugh and joke, and you get a new friend every week."

Many ENA parents are amazed to see Darrell and Denise Downs at the fields at odd hours cutting grass, pulling weeds, fixing fences and more. They put in between 30 and 50 unpaid hours a week supporting youth sports.

"They’re really good people who care about others," Stewart said. "They put a lot of people before themselves."

Darrell and Denise Downs said, for now, they regularly get the kind of heartwarming feedback that keeps them going.

"I had parents of a 13-year-old kid come up to me and say he didn't have a lot of friends until baseball, and now they think he's made lifelong friends," Darrell Downs said.

"The day you want to quit," he said, "you hear that and you sign up for another year."

Perhaps the person most proud of Darrell Downs is his role model dad.

"What I like more than anything is that no kids will be turned down. I've been down there and I've seen it," Harry Downs said.

"It’s not so much about winning as it is getting kids to participate. And it's unbelievable what he’s done."

Reach Brad Schmitt at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Meet Darrell Downs, the guy who saved East Nashville youth baseball