It took more than two decades, but what once was a collection of empty fields has become home to a new recreation destination.

The Cooper Tennis Complex and a network of soccer fields and parkland are finally a reality.

Springfield businessman Harry Cooper was thanked Friday for the $1 million-plus his family donated to the tennis complex.

In a society that doesn't show much patience for getting things done slowly, Cooper joked, the creation of a 184-acre park complex required lots of patience.

He was named a Community Champion by the National Recreation and Parks Association and Sports Illustrated.

He credits former Springfield-Greene County Parks and Recreation Director Dan Kinney with having the patience to work with his family for years to see the park created.

"I've just enjoyed working with the fellow," Cooper said of Kinney.

As for the future, he joked, there isn't much room left at the park complex to build much else.

The tennis complex that now has a dozen indoor courts along with 16 outdoor courts, and the arena court where the Springfield Lasers play has a bright future. It's not only a centerpiece for Springfield tennis enthusiasts, but may also attract bigger tennis events, several people said.

"When you have 12 indoor courts, you open your life up, so to speak," U.S. Tennis Association Missouri Valley director Mary Buschmann said after the dedication.

Activities at the complex have concentrated on the Lasers for the past week, but Buschmann said organizers of at least two professional tournaments have shown interest in holding events in Springfield.

The complex is also important for encouraging people to take up tennis as a lifetime sport, even if they have no hopes of becoming a professional, Buschmann said.

Despite news stories contending tennis in the United States is in the doldrums because there are no Americans in the top professional ranks, growth of tennis is booming as a recreational sport, and the Cooper complex is a response to that interest, Buschmann said.

For tennis players wanting to play indoors, the six additional courts will ease long waits for court time, parks director Jodie Adams said.

Players log 20,000 hours on the indoor courts each year.

Tennis coordinator Larry Haugness started working at Cooper one week ago, so he didn't see the start of a project that contractor R.E. Smith finished one month before deadline.

But its significance isn't lost on Haugness.

"For me, it's going to add a whole new perspective," he said. "The potential is going to be immense."

The upcoming quarter-cent county parks sales tax addresses the need for improved tennis facilities.

Among the dozen project areas the tax would finance is a plan to spend $1 million to renovate the dozen courts at Gillenwaters Tennis Complex.

With less than a month to go before the Aug. 8 election, a parks tax support committee is proceeding with a grassroots campaign, committee chairpersons Mark McNay and Sally Hargis told members of the park board before the Cooper dedication.

Many people in the crowd of 200 were players clad in tennis garb, holding rackets and equipment bags in anticipation of playing at the complex. Lasers coach Trevor Kronemann watched from the fringes wearing carpenter's pants and a Hawaiian shirt.

The Cooper complex is more than a venue for the Lasers, he said.

"I've been all over the world, and there aren't places like this," he said.

He thinks the tennis center is capable of producing a top-ranked player.

Further down the Lasers hierarchy, 10-year-old "ball kid" Luke Reynolds said he expected the addition to Cooper would help him improve his game by lessening the wait for indoor court time.

Starting tennis at 5 years of age, Reynolds has participated in the local tennis academy program.

Playing at a multimillion-dollar tennis complex helps, but only goes so far.

Asked why he plays tennis, Reynolds had a simple answer.

"Because it's a fun sport to do," he said.