Ted Rasberry, a Mississippi native, was a player, coach, manager and owner in Negro League Baseball who moved to Grand Rapids in 1935 and became a leader and pioneer in youth sports as well as an honored community activist and businessman.

He was a player and co-owner of Grand Rapids Color Athletics, a player and owner of the Grand Rapids Black Sox, purchased the Detroit Stars in 1954 and the Kansas City Monarchs in 1955.

The Negro leagues dissolved, but Ted made sure baseball continued in the city by establishing in 1965 the first integrated little league program. Ted served on the board of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City and is recognized as a legend in the game by Baseball in Living Color.

In 1987 he was awarded the prestigious Giants Award by Grand Rapids Community College. A youth ballpark in Grand Rapids, under renovation in 2015 when Ted was inducted, is named Rasberry Field in his honor.