A San Diego community came together Saturday to celebrate the legacy of Neal Petties, a former San Diego State football standout and NFL player who later devoted much of his life to serving local youth.<\/p>\n
A new sign bearing Petties\u2019 name was unveiled at Neal Petties-Mountain View Community Park, roughly three years after the San Diego City Council officially renamed the park in his honor.<\/p>\n
For Petties\u2019 family, the sign represents more than recognition of his football career. It serves as a lasting reminder of the impact he had on generations of children and families in Southeast San Diego.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what? See that name right there, Neal Petties? That\u2019s a big deal right there,\u201d said Sherie Petties-Jackson, Petties\u2019 daughter.<\/p>\n
Petties played football at San Diego State and later in the NFL before returning to the community, where he eventually became the park\u2019s manager.<\/p>\n
His daughter said his work at the park was far more important to him \u2014 and to the people who knew him \u2014 than his accomplishments on the football field.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was younger and people said, \u2018Oh, your dad played football,\u2019 that was just nothing compared to what he did for the community,\u201d Petties-Jackson said.<\/p>\n
She said her father created a free lunch program at the park and helped provide activities and experiences for children whose families might not have been able to afford them.<\/p>\n
He arranged trips to places such as Magic Mountain, bringing in buses so children could attend for as little as a dollar. He also brought bands, petting zoos and other activities to the park.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019d bring bands, petting zoos, everything down here for them to get involved in to experience a little bit of culture where they otherwise would not have been exposed to,\u201d Petties-Jackson said.<\/p>\n
The sign unveiling also became a family gathering, with relatives coming together to celebrate Petties\u2019 life and the legacy he left behind.<\/p>\n
Lari Petties, Petties\u2019 niece, remembers visiting him at the park as a child.<\/p>\n
She recalled watching children run around the park, asking for balls and calling out to Petties, while he remained calm amid the activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was just such a calm man, but he was very strong,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Petties said her uncle\u2019s impact extended beyond the park, with people remembering how he helped them find jobs or stay out of trouble.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut at the end of the day, he was just my uncle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s ceremony also included a city proclamation designating Sept. 19 as Neal Petties Day.<\/p>\n
The park itself has more than a century of history. The City of San Diego officially dedicated the property as a park in 1914. In recent years, the park has undergone improvements including new ball courts, artwork and other renovations.<\/p>\n
For Petties\u2019 family, those improvements are part of a continuing legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll this that they\u2019re doing \u2014 improvements here \u2014 this is how the park was 20, 30 years ago and they\u2019re bringing it back around and we\u2019re going to start that legacy all over again,\u201d Petties-Jackson said.<\/p>\n
She said her father\u2019s example has also inspired her own commitment to giving back. She hopes to continue his work with young people and potentially establish a youth home in his honor.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was just a gentle giant. A big man but with an even bigger heart,\u201d Petties-Jackson said.<\/p>\n
For the family, the new sign ensures Petties\u2019 name will remain connected to the place where he spent so much of his life helping others.<\/p>\n
\u201cA legacy for my family,\u201d Petties-Jackson said. \u201cMy dad is going to live on through this park \u2014 his name, his memory, all of his good deeds for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A San Diego community came together Saturday to celebrate the legacy of Neal Petties, a former San Diego…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[194,74,84,76,75],"class_list":["post-469397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-mountain-view","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}