The Virginian-Pilot

Sports
Saturday, May 10, 1997

Around the area, some fields of dreams

When First Colonial baseball coach Norbie Wilson planted winter rye over his dirt infield in the fall of 1991, he has no idea he was sowing the seeds of a baseball renaissance in South Hampton Roads. There we no grass infields or enclosed dugouts in the Beach District at the time, and few outfield fences. Irrigation was a code word for rain. “You can say we were pioneers,” Wilson said from inside the Patriots’ new indoor practice facility. The 3,200-square-foot building is made of corrugated metal and arches 18 feet above the leftfield foul line. When complete, it will house two portable batting cages, weight training equipment and lockers.

Wilson estimates the construction material – paid for through fund raising and donations – cost $35,000. Baseball parents, community member and Wilson provided the labor from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. over 14 consecutive weekends. The “Norbie Dome” is the last in a series of improvements Wilson in 1989 with the sinking of a lone well. Over the next eight years he added the dugouts, sodded the infield, completed the fencing, installed an electric sprinkler system and added an electric scoreboard. Less than two years after the upgrades began, First Colonial won its only state championship in 1993. The Patriots now have all the amenities but a press box, which wouldn’t serve the players’ needs, and lights, which Wilson said would produce an unacceptable amount of stress on the playing surface. Even without those features, First Colonial set a standard that raised the bar throughout the area. Today, all 10 Beach District schools are completely fenced and seven have grass infields. Cox coach John Ingram was the first to copy the Patriots’ model. “I told John ‘Your parents aren’t going to let their kids play on a third-rate facility,’” Wilson said. “So I gave him my notes and some contacts.

The next fall they started and two years later they won a state championship.” Cox, which won last season’s state title, has spent nearly $50,000 in upgrading its field and has plans to add a large electric scoreboard, pop-up sprinklers in the outfield and new bleachers behind home plate, Ingram said. Princess Ann, which is enjoying its best season in years, raised $10,000 and put in new dugouts and a grass infield this spring. The emphasis on quality isn’t confined to Virginia Beach. Nansemond River’s combination of aesthetics and utility makes it the Oriole Park of Hampton Roads. Greenbrier Christian boasts a playing surface that puts some pro teams to shame. Ongoing improvements – a new press box this spring – make it one of the top three area spots in South Hampton Roads to watch a game. Oscar Smith has everything a player could want and lacks only an irrigation system to make it a showplace. Western Branch opened a new field this year; it lacks a grass infield but has lights and an electric scoreboard. Lakeland has an outstanding playing surface and Ocean Lakes continues to make strides; the blue plastic covering on the Dolphins’ outfield fence is a nice touch and helps depth perception.

Nansemond River coach Phil Braswell has always bee ahead of the curve as a groundskeeper. He cultivated a grass infield at John Yeates High in 1985 and took advantage of school consolidation in Suffolk to secure needed funds for Nansemond River. The most striking feature of the Warriors’ field is a 28-by11-foot electric scoreboard with “Nansemond River” spelled out in huge block letters across the top. The Warriors installed lights last year and added a 784-square foot press box/concession stand/dressing room this spring. “We’ve dumped more than $100,000 in here over the past three years,” Braswell said. “Half from donations and half from the city.” Of all the design improvements, Braswell is proudest of the wide expanse of foul territory down the lines and behind home plate. It is 57 feet from plate to backstop. “That’s what makes this baseball park,” he said. “It’s about the same as Camden Yards and you have to change your pitching philosophy.”

Business
Monday, December 10, 2001

Businessman joins effort to educate African children

One day, Rhae Adams Jr. would like to see the fruits of his efforts for South Africa. The Virginia Beach businessman would take his family, including children-Merrick, 9, Rhae III (Trey), 11, and Shelley 24. “One of my desires for them is to help put another building up and learn how to help other countries less fortunate than ours,” Adams mused. Adams is donating a prefabricated steel building to the Chesapeake-based African Awareness Campaign for use in a South African black township. The 33-by-50-foot semi-circular building will become a combination food bank, job training center and church in Pretoria’s Soshanguve community, where many people live in shanties without electricity or running water. “When we purchase food nowm we have to pay for storage, and we don’t have room for bulk bags,” said the Rev. Steven V. Terry, founder of the African Awareness Campaign and pastor of Chesapeake’s Deliverance Tabernacle. The foods—flour, sugar, salt, dry soup mix, and corn grits-type grain—also would be protected from rot, bad weather and thievery. Adams learned of the African project through one his ministers, the Rev. Peter Prosser, assistant pastor at Galilee Episcopal Church and a Regent University theology teacher.

Prosser, who had visited Africa, already was working with Terry. As they talked, the connections seemed natural. Adams owns SteelMaster Building Inc. The company manufactures structures from backyard work shed to hangars for NASA to military munition stores. The building for South Africa is similar to ones SteelMaster has sold or donated of international relief elsewhere, including for mudslide and earthquake surviors. “It seems that God was knocking on our doors to get involved,” Adams said. “I view it as a tithe. It’s our responsibility to return some of the blessings we’ve enjoyed.” Prosser and Terry have taught Adams much about poverty in South Africa. “Their hardships are incredible. One well that we use to water-our grass, they could use to irrigate their village,” Adams said. “They told me about one village where all the children share on toy, a coffee can turned into a tiny car that the kids pull by a string.”

Prosser and Terry also taught Adams about the spiritual strength of the poor who may walk for miles through dangerous areas to attend worship services led by visiting American ministers. “They could teach us a lot about being thankful and humble,” Adams said. “It helps me understand that making money is not the most important thing in life. It helps me with perspective.” Adams now sees that individual Americans can help Africa, despite travesties of starvation, disease can civil war. The Rev. Terry is working to make Americans understand that they can help, too. That’s why the African Awareness Campaign has launched the “Reach One, Teach One” project for the holiday season. During his visit to South Africa in July, Terry learned that many parents must choose between eating and paying tuition for their children to attend public schools.

Business News The Virginian-Pilot & The Ledger Star
Saturday, June 10, 1995

Construction firm takes “Die Hard” job in stride

Rhae Adams Jr. is accustomed to strange requests. Among the more than 20,000 projects completed by his Virginia Beach construction company are portable steel covers for military welders, an indoor firing range for high-tech weapons and an indoor polo facility. So when 20th Century Fox hired his company, SteelMaster Inc., to build a major prop for an upcoming action movie, Adams took it pretty much in stride. “We’ve managed to do a little bit of everything,” he said as he flipped through the “family album,” photos of the company’s projects. The latest addition to the collection is a 450-foot-long steel tunnel that served as a New York aqueduct in this summer’s blockbuster hit “Die Hard With A Vengeance.”

The tunnel, plus two smaller tunnels made in case the set location didn’t work out, cost the studio about $140,000. After final assembly, the tunnel was, at almost 1,200 feet, one of the largest outdoor sets ever made for motion picture, Adams said. In the big scene, bad guy Jeremy Irons tries to drown the movie’s star, Bruce Willis, in the aqueduct by blowing up a dam. Luckily, Willis finds a way out, just as the flood-waters overtake him. To find out how, you need to see the movie. Two of SteelMaster’s half-round steel buildings were connected to make the aqueduct. The tunnel was shipped in more than 2,000 pieces on two flatbed trucks to the movie’s set in Charleston, S.C., where it was assembled by studio crews under the supervision of Phil Krout, SteelMaster’s southeast regional marketing director. Adams calls the project “unique,” but not completely unusual for the 16-year-old company. In fact, this isn’t the company’s first foray into show business. They’ve also worked with Mazda to produce a props for a Miata commercial that aired during this year’s Super Bowl. The company’s latest triumph may further its showbiz image.

According to Krout, SteelMaster has received several calls since the release of the third “Die Hard” from movie companies needing similar work. When the company isn’t working for the government or Hollywood, which is 60 percent of the time, it makes commercial buildings, backyard storage barns, farm outbuildings and other types of shelters. Aside from the 20th Century Fox, the company has a customer list that included the D.C. Department of Crrections, Toyota, Purdue Chicken, Norshipco and the U.S. Department of Defense. The company was started in 1979 by Adam’s father, Rhae Adams Sr., who ran it until his death in 1992. Since it’s beginnings, the company has expanded internationally, doing business in Canada, England, Italy, Korea, New Zealand, the Middle East, and South America. Sales in the Southeast United States alone reached about $10 million this year. All that success is because of the durability of the buildings and the ease of assembly, Adams said. “We do really well in hurricanes,” Adams said, noting that he has received testimonials from customers whose buildings survived Hurricane Hugo unscathed. Additionally, by following the enclosed instructions, customers can assemble the buildings themselves, as was the case with the “Die Hard” project. What’s the next bog project for SteelMaster? “We’ll just have to wait and see what comes along,” Adams said.