Former Major League All-Star Darryl Strawberry is coming to Durango this weekend.
While the nine-time Major League Baseball All-Star originally scheduled his visit as a vacation, he may not have time to do much relaxing. He’s speaking at Fort Lewis College on Friday evening, dedicating the Alpine Bank Youth Sports Complex Little League baseball fields Saturday morning and speaking at New Hope church Sunday.
Doors at FLC’s Whalen Gymnasium open at 5:30 p.m. Friday, and Strawberry will speak at 6:30 p.m. The event is free and is a fundraiser for La Plata County Search and Rescue.
Strawberry won’t be signing autographs, but he will pose for pictures, said Ted Rifkin, one of the organizers.
Rifkin said he hopes the speech will resonate with teenagers and young kids who “are all about themselves” and see how Strawberry has turned his life around.
Once a controversial figure in baseball, Strawberry overcame drug abuse and legal woes, and has become a born-again Christian, survived colon cancer and founded The Darryl Strawberry Foundation, an organization dedicated to children with autism.
Strawberry will be at the new baseball fields off County Road 210 north of Bodo Industrial Park from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday.
His last public appearance will be Sunday morning at New Hope’s 8:15 and 9:30 a.m. services, which are held in the Stadium Nine Theaters adjacent to Durango Mall.
jdahl@durangoherald.com
