{"id":248355,"date":"2026-04-14T00:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/248355\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T00:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:12:07","slug":"district-2-councilman-pitches-to-rename-splashtown-drive-after-former-nfl-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/248355\/","title":{"rendered":"District 2 councilman pitches to rename Splashtown Drive after former NFL player"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">SAN ANTONIO \u2013 District 2 City Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez filed a request to rename an East Side street on Monday, according to a press release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Council Consideration Request asks that Splashtown Drive be renamed to Willie Mitchell Drive. Splashtown, which closed in September 2021, was a water park that opened in San Antonio as Waterpark USA in 1985. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The former park property adjacent to Splashtown Drive has been redeveloped into a car dealership, yet the street name remains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">McKee-Rodriguez\u2019s request stated that District 2 met with neighbors of the United Homeowners Improvement Association and businesses to come up with an \u201cappropriate name that reflects the area and its history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cDistrict 2 states that nearby residential neighbors would like to honor an important member of this community, and the broader San Antonio community, by renaming the street to Willie Mitchell Drive,\u201d the release states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/sanantoniosports.org\/hof-members\/willie-mitchell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">San Antonio Sports<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/dp1l7lijXkM?si=o1rl9TJAbktRc9TI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Willie Mitchell<\/a> is one of the top 50 high school players in San Antonio history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Mitchell attended and played football at Wheatley High School on the East Side before it was closed in 1970. He was drafted to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1964 and was named an all-pro cornerback the following year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Mitchell helped the Chiefs reach the first-ever American Football League World Championship, now known as the Super Bowl, in 1967 against the inaugural winner, the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">He later won his only gridiron ring against the Minnesota Vikings in 1970.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">After eight seasons with the Chiefs, he was traded to the Houston Oilers, where he had career-ending knee surgery, forcing him to retire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">McKee-Rodriguez stated that Mitchell is a pillar of the East Side community and that the designation would reflect his contributions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cI\u2019m proud to honor one of San Antonio\u2019s own East Side heroes, Mr. Willie Mitchell, who not only demonstrated excellence and commitment in athletics, but also continues to make San Antonio proud by giving of his time and experience to continue serving as a leader here in our city,\u201d McKee-Rodriguez said in the release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Councilmembers Sukh Kaur (D1), Edward Mungia (D4), Teri Castillo (D5) and Ric Galvan (D6) supported McKee-Rodriguez\u2019s request, according to the release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The next step in the process is a hearing of a staff recommendation at the next available Governance Committee meeting. A date has not been set. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Read more:<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by KSAT &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 District 2 City Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez filed a request to rename an East Side street&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3084,20324,96,21157,82,84,83,94375],"class_list":{"0":"post-248355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-city-hall","9":"tag-district-2","10":"tag-east-side","11":"tag-jalen-mckee-rodriguez","12":"tag-san-antonio","13":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","14":"tag-san-antonio-news","15":"tag-splashtown"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}