KSHB 41 News reporter Braden Bates covers parts of Jackson County, Missouri, including Lee’s Summit. Send Braden a story idea by e-mail.
Kauffman Stadium on the Truman Sports Complex is home to the Royals but it’s also home to a bronze plaque with the names of county judges who were instrumental in the naming of the complex.
Since the announcement of the new Royals downtown stadium, countless stories of people’s connection to The K have emerged. Michael Padow’s connection happens to be embedded in the wall.
“I think he would appreciate and know that people are still checking up on him,” Padow said.
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His family’s spent decades going to Royals games, making it a point to stop at the plaque that houses the name Alex Petrovic.
Padow is the grandson of Judge Alex Petrovic, who was a leader during a critical time for Kansas City.
“We’ve been doing this for 40 years, seeing Grandpa on the plaque and hearing all sorts of wild stories about how the stadium complex started out,” Padow said.
Petrovic was a WWII soldier and after he came back he started a family and a political career. He was a friend to President Harry Truman. Petrovic advocated for Truman’s name to be on the sports complex.
“When he was Eastern County Judge, that was when the proposition was to try to bring in the Royals and Chiefs and to lure them to Kansas City,” Padow said.
That advocacy and work he did alongside a group of other judges and Jackson County Sport Complex Members garnered his name to be embossed in bronze.
Padow remembered the times he spent with his grandfather, hearing a variety of stories from his career.
“His stories about the inaugural season and starting it all off and seeing these blueprints for the stadium or what it would have looked like with a rolling dome at that type and a Space Needle. He was so proud of that team,” Padow said.
Generations later, Petrovic’s family members are now making their own memories at the Truman Sports Complex.
“Wonderful part of Kansas City to be able to say that we’ve had two storied, professional teams. And to be a very micro, tiny, tiny, tiny part of that, yeah, of course makes you feel good,” Alex Petrovic III said.
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As both teams plan to vacate the complex, Petrovic’s family hopes the plaque makes a move.
“It just wants a resting home. It doesn’t matter where it is. Even if it’s in, you know, somewhere in Kansas City, would be wonderful. Or maybe even, frankly, maybe even a part of the new stadium,” Petrovic III said.
Padow and Petrovic III said the other families on the plaque share a similar connection.
“It’s not a pedestalization of him. We don’t want to put him up too high, and there’s so many other people that made it work, but of course there’s only one grandfather who has his name on there for us,” Padow said.
The family is excited for the future of Kansas City sports despite no longer being at the Truman Sports Complex.
“I think progress is good. I’m all for a downtown ballpark. The renderings look fantastic. We just drove past this morning, checked out the new site,” said Padow.
They hope the legacy of the Truman Sports Complex is somehow remembered and honored in whatever shape it takes.
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