Charlie and Tonja Ward cut the ribbon Thursday on the first outdoor multi-purpose field at their 112-acre Champions Ranch in Tallahassee, opening a facility designed to let people of all ages play softball, baseball, football and soccer. Children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Big Bend were among the first to take the field once the ceremony wrapped, running through soccer drills alongside the Florida State University School’s soccer team.

The field sits on property between Tram Road and Woodville Highway, according to Champions Ranch, and marks the first visible piece of a campus the Wards have been building toward for years. As fsunews.com reported, it is the first of three planned multi-purpose turf fields, with the opening phase also including outdoor batting cages and the Champions Café. Tonja Ward said the couple was “overwhelmed with joy” watching the project take shape, telling the outlet the ranch was becoming reality.

Charlie Ward, who also serves as Florida A&M’s men’s basketball head coach, said the ranch began as a vision three years earlier. The Miami Herald noted he opened the facility as a way to give back to the community that shaped his own path, from his 1993 Heisman Trophy and national championship season at Florida State to his NBA career after being drafted 26th overall by the New York Knicks in 1994.

A Decade-Plus Build With Big Ambitions

The full buildout of Champions Ranch is expected to take 10 to 15 years, per the same fsunews.com report. Future plans call for an indoor court barn for basketball, volleyball and pickleball, along with classrooms, a counseling center, a retreat lodge with cabins, and a campus for girls, according to the Miami Herald.

Tonja Ward envisions events and tournaments eventually drawing young athletes from across the country to Tallahassee, and she has said the ranch should attract children from around the world. The project aims to bring together kids from Tallahassee’s south and north sides and include families whether or not they can afford traditional ball camps, the Miami Herald reported.

The timeline tracks with earlier reporting on the project. WFSU News covered the first-phase groundbreaking in south Tallahassee on Dec. 1, 2025, when the described scope already included a multi-sport field and the Champions Café, powered by Centennial Bank. The station noted the project’s fundraising goal stood at $20 million at that time, with more than $9 million raised.

Fundraising Climbs Toward $13 Million

Charlie Ward said the foundation has now raised nearly $13 million from 260 donors, according to fsunews.com’s coverage of the opening. The ranch is also running a $500,000 matching-gift challenge through the end of December, the outlet reported. Ward said the foundation could not have made its impact alone, crediting partnerships for helping the ranch reach young people and families.

Those partnerships are expected to grow. Champions Ranch plans to work with more than 30 organizations, including the Amateur Athletic Union, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Boys & Girls Clubs, per the Miami Herald’s reporting. WTXL described the field’s debut as arriving after nearly a year of construction and years of planning before that.

Roots Going Back Nearly Three Decades

The Wards’ youth-development work did not start with the ranch. The couple began their mission in 1996 in New York City, where they supported housing and urban renewal projects and helped rehabilitate buildings in Harlem for affordable housing, according to the Miami Herald. They also supported first responders and residents after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Charlie and Tonja Ward formally established the Charlie Ward Family Foundation in 2015, a public charity rooted in Christian values that uses the mantra “cultivating lifelong champions,” per the Miami Herald. The foundation supports youth character development through sports, arts, education and wellness, as well as disaster relief initiatives, and has held its fourth annual Championship Breakfast. WFSU News reported the ranch’s broader goal is teaching “not only sports, but also character, academics, art and leadership.”

Champions Ranch board member Lawton Langford said success requires being more competitive than one’s opponent, and he believes the model built in Tallahassee could be expanded to other communities, according to the Miami Herald. Florida State President Richard McCullough, Florida A&M President Marva Johnson and Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey all attended the ribbon-cutting, underscoring the local backing behind a campus the Wards describe as a hub for youth sports, education and mentorship for years to come.