Mayor Bill Haslam joined family members and dozens of friends of Everett “Pee Wee” Henderson and his late wife, Peggy Henderson, for a Thursday evening ceremony honoring the couple by naming a field and the concession stand at the Holston-Chilhowee Ball Fields in their honor.

Henderson, 75, the longtime president of the Holston-Chilhowee Recreation Commission, has helped with youth sports at the complex off Asheville Highway for more than 40 years – since one of his sons was a four-year-old playing t-ball there. 

Since then he and other volunteers have spent countless hours maintaining the fields, raising money to pay for the equipment, organizing the teams and making sure the children who play there have a great experience. 

Peggy, who died in March, spent much of the time working in the concession stand. The couple’s grandchildren are among the thousands of youngsters from all over the city and Knox County who have played ball at Holston-Chilhowee. 

During the ceremony Henderson - who is battling serious illness - his sons, Jim and Joe Henderson, and daughter Julie Townsend, unveiled signs for the “Everett “Pee Wee” Henderson Field” and the “Peggy Henderson Concession Stand” on Field #2, which now bears Everett Henderson’s name. 

More than 100 well-wishers, including many who played or coached - or maybe did both - at Holston-Chilhowee during the past four decades lined the field for the ceremony. 

Haslam said that he had played youth baseball at the field and later coached one of his daughters in games there. 

The event was a surprise to Henderson, whose family found ways to keep him away from the field until the ceremony. Despite his illness he still comes to the park every day.