Hometown boy Robbie Gould pledges $200,000 to Chestnut Grove sports complex
LOCK HAVEN, PA – NFL kicking star Robbie Gould was the guest speaker at Wednesday’s quarterly membership meeting for the Clinton County Economic Partnership and he brought with him word of a major personal commitment to the proposed Chestnut Grove Sports Complex in Castanea Township.
Speaking by Zoom from his offseason Chicago home, the Lock Haven native said he would be personally donating $200,000 to the complex along Bald Eagle Creek. In additional to his pledge, he talked of the involvement of his Goulden Touch Foundation, already a major contributor to Chestnut Grove, which is to include three Little League-sized fields, to serve as a site for regional events.
Gould said some $600,000 has been raised towards the project and said there will be further word for those seeking to donate. He thanked both the Wayne Township landfill and First Quality for their support to date.
Gould said the site “will be awesome for the community” and presented him “an opportunity to thank all of you for what you have given me for the last 25 years.”
He talked about his young children and he is now coaching them in sports, as his father, Robbie Gould Sr., had done with him. He said his father had told him that “giving back is a huge part of what our family is told to do.”
He said he wants his children “to do something they love and (can) be passionate about.” He said he was “planting roots” in Chicago, where he spent a large portion of his record-breaking 17 year NFL career. Gould now plays with the San Francisco 49ers.
Noting he is 38 years old, the Central Mountain and Penn State grad talked fondly of his experience in Clinton County, including playing at the now gone Painter Memorial Stadium in Lock Haven.
Ground was broken last November for the Chestnut Grove Sports Complex. At the time representatives from the Chestnut Grove Recreation Authority said the initial development will be the site’s East Park sector, across Hanna Street from the Castanea Fire Company social hall. Gould said on Wednesday that “ground-pushing” would begin at the site this spring. The completed facility, he said, would “give kids an opportunity…teaching about life and yourself.”
