Director of Ridgeland Recreation and Parks Receives Industry Award

Chris has been in the recreation business for 17 years and has served as director in Ridgeland for 5 1⁄2 years. He has steadily increased the number of programs and events offered by Ridgeland Recreation and Parks, as well as citizen and visitor participation. He has made two unique contributions to Ridgeland Recreation and Parks. The first was introducing major league soccer to Mississippi. Ridgeland hosted the Chicago Fire and Dallas Burn of Major league Soccer in an exhibition game at Freedom Ridge Park in 2004, the first professional soccer match to be played in the state of Mississippi. The event was such a success that another preseason game was played in 2005 and Ridgeland hosted a training camp as well. The second major and unique event was the US Olympic Softball team playing one of their pre-Olympic games in Ridgeland at Freedom Ridge Park in 2004; this was their only stop in Mississippi. According to Mayor Gene McGee , "He (Chris) is to be commended for his vision in growing all these programs while maintaining a level of excellence in the management of our park facilities.”

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