Having a ball
at Deni Playground

By Jon Campisi
Times Staff Writer

Dan Savage remembers the Deni Playground of his youth.
It was a place where Frankford youngsters, just like himself, spent gym-class periods and after-school hours playing sports and hanging out with friends.
Then came the merger of his boyhood Catholic school with another parish, and just like that, Deni sort of fell by the wayside.
Fast-forward more than 20 years, and Savage emerges as the quintessential community activist.
The thirtysomething bought a home in Frankford, when many opted to leave the neighborhood. He ran for, and won, a special election for a City Council seat, while many Generation Xers appeared disenfranchised with the political scene.
And perhaps most important to this divorced father of one, he played an integral part in reviving the Deni Playground and its youth baseball team, the Deni Whiz Kids.
"It’s close to my heart, that playground," Savage said during a recent interview at his home in the Northwood section of Frankford. "There’s a lot of good families around Deni Playground."
Savage used his 13 months as the 7th district councilman — he was elected in November 2006 to replace Rick Mariano after Mariano’s conviction on federal corruption charges — as an opportunity to pursue community improvements.
He secured funding to revamp the playground, with a revitalized baseball field and repainted basketball courts among the upgrades.
The changes were not lost on community members, many of whom expressed appreciation for the work. That included parents who no doubt would benefit from once again having a local recreation area to enjoy with neighbors and friends.
"Parents love it, that there’s such a revival going on at Deni Playground," Savage said. "It’s a good way for the neighbors to get out and see each other. It keeps the neighborhood whole."
Elizabeth McCollum-Nazario, another proud Frankford resident who was Savage’s chief of staff during his time on City Council — she also attended grade school with him — praised the collective effort to revive the playground and local baseball league.
"It brought people back together who didn’t even realize they still lived in the same neighborhood together," she said. "People can see that Deni is once again alive for neighborhood children."
Although Savage was able to obtain those grant dollars for Deni, he also covered some out-of-pocket expenses to help upgrade the play area. McCollum-Nazario praised Savage’s commitment to the community, explaining that he realizes the good that will come from having a place for children, many of them at-risk, to engage in positive activities that also build self-esteem.
"When you see the kids’ faces," she said, "it’s worth it."
Savage considers the return of the Deni Whiz Kids another success story. It’s been almost a year since the resuscitated team played its first game, and the enjoyment among the youngsters, along with the camaraderie, has made the value of this sports activity quite clear.
"We had a real successful year," Savage said.
The second season of baseball wrapped up June 27, an event that included a disc jockey and the distribution of trophies and medals to the young players.
The team’s name is a salute to the 1950 Phillies, the "Whiz Kids" who won the National League title that year, and Savage recruited the talents of Frankford brothers Brian and Tim Wisniewski to create a logo for the Deni baseball squad.
This edition of the Whiz Kids comprises two tee-ball teams for children ages 5 to 8 and two baseball teams for children who are 9 to 12. Plans call for developing boys and girls softball teams, Savage said. For now, the Deni teams are co-ed.
One of the nice things about the Whiz Kids, he said, is that it affords children who may not be that great at sports an opportunity to develop their skills. Most important, he believes, is that it gives neighborhood children a positive activity that can sway them from the bad temptations of urban life.
"The main thing (it teaches) is self-respect," Savage said.
It seems that parents and guardians are equally pleased with the return of a team at Deni. Mary Kemmerer said her grandson Ian, 10, has enjoyed meeting other kids his age at the playground. The revitalization at Deni and the formation of the baseball teams have been positive steps for the community, she added.
"I think it’s great what Danny Savage has done with Deni. And Liz," Kemmerer said, referring to McCollum-Nazario. "If it wasn’t for them, these kids wouldn’t have anything to do."
The playground and Whiz Kids teams are governed by a 10-member body called the Deni Playground Advisory Council, of which Savage is president. With the aid of a Philadelphia Activities fund grant landed by Savage during his City Council days, the Deni advisory group has been able to let the youngsters play baseball free of charge.
When the grant runs out, said McCollum-Nazario, also an advisory council member, the organization will look for other funding sources so that children won’t have to pay fees to be part of the team.
Deni already has been helped by a community outreach division of the Philadelphia Phillies. During the Deni Whiz Kids’ first year, the Phillies program donated balls, bats, bases and uniforms.
"It’s basically a way for them to help us have baseball for the children," McCollum-Nazario said. "Frankford was a community that hasn’t had anything like this for a long time."
McCollum-Nazario, a former middle-school teacher, also helped to coach some of the young players. She’s happy to have made the transition from teacher to neighborhood booster.
"I was doing more and more in my community, and I realized that’s what I loved," explained McCollum-Nazario, who recruited two former students, now high school seniors, as junior coaches for the teams.
For Savage, his job in city government ended six months ago, when Maria Quinones-Sanchez, who’d defeated him in the city’s May 2007 Democratic primary and then won in last November’s general election, took over in the 7th district. But he’s pleased about Deni’s future, and the community’s enthusiasm is reflective of residents’ general optimism for Frankford, he said, even though the area often is perceived as a place plagued by problems of decay and crime.
Many are still proud to call the neighborhood home, Savage said. As a resident, he too feels compelled to do what he can to sustain that pride.
"It makes you feel good as a person, helping out," he said. ••
Reporter Jon Campisi can be reached at 215-354-3038 or jcampisi@phillynews.com