Title
REQUEST TO OFFICIALLY NAME
GATELY PARK TRACK AND FIELD CENTER
IN HONOR OF DR. CONRAD WORRILL
Body
To the Honorable Board of Commissioners of the Chicago Park District
I. Recommendation
It is recommended that an order be entered authorizing the General Superintendent or her designee to officially name the Gately Park Track and Field Center in honor of Dr. Conrad Worrill.
Proposed Park or feature: Gately Park Track and Field Center
Location: 744 East 103rd Street
Community Area: Pullman
Ward: 8
Proposed Name: Dr. Conrad Worrill Track and Field Center
II. Explanation
The Chicago Park District naming and renaming procedures allow for the naming of features in parks, including playgrounds and buildings.
Dr. Conrad Worrill, a lifelong activist and educator, passed away on June 3, 2020. His legacy of untiring and passionate advocacy, however, will continue to inspire generations to come.
Dr. Worrill was born in Pasadena, California, but moved with his family to Chicago at the age of nine, and spent the rest of his life here. As a youth, he participated in several sports. In fact, the severe heckling his all-Black swim team experienced was cited as being the genesis of the racial consciousness that would become his life's work.
While serving in Japan in the U.S. Army, Dr. Worrill read extensively about African American history, culture, and politics. After returning to Chicago, he attended George Williams College, where he became active in the Black Power Movement, among other organizations examining civil rights and their relationship to the war. Dr. Worrill went on to earn a master's degree in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago, and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After a two-year teaching period at George Williams College, Dr. Worrill was hired by Northeastern Illinois University, where he taught for the next forty years, until his retirement in 2016. While there, he eventually led the C...
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