Nov 1, 2015 By Toni Cekada for The 4 min read

Visitors to the Wharton Township Recreational Park can now enjoy newly re-established bleachers thanks to Eagle Scout Gregory Van Sickle.

With the help of his family and friends, Van Sickle spent 135 hours working in the cold and the snow to replace 150 treated boards on 13 sets of bleachers for his Eagle Scout project.

The project hit home with Van Sickle, who said he spent a lot of time in the park.

“I grew up here. I played baseball here for 11 years, and soccer for a few years,” he said. “I just thought it would be a good way to give back to the community.”

Van Sickle’s sisters, Allysen and Meaghan, also played sports at the park. Their father, Mike Van Sickle, coached baseball for a few years, and their mother, Samantha, is president of the soccer division of the Mountain Area Ball League.

Van Sickle said the boards needed replaced as they were weathered, cracked and splintered. Township supervisor Jack Lewis added that the wooden bleachers were 25 years old.

“We’ve turned some projects down,” Lewis said. “But this one really shined. All three of us supervisors were just tickled to death over it.”

But getting the project done was not easy. In order to earn his Eagle Scout badge, Van Sickle had to complete the project before his 18th birthday in February. After getting the go-ahead from supervisors, he began the project at the end of October, 2014 — working each weekend — until the week of Christmas.

“There were days when we had to come out here and sweep snow off of the bleachers first,” Mike Van Sickle said.

The cold weather was not the only thing standing in Van Sickle’s way.

“The hardest part was getting the old bolts out,” Gregory Van Sickle said. “They were rusted and old, and we just couldn’t get them out. We had to either grind or torch them out.”

With the help of family members Andy Van Sickle, his son, A.J. and grandpa Sonny Van Sickle, and also friends Frank Cole, Chuck Fowler and Bob Lear, Van Sickle was able to replace the boards on two or three sets of bleachers each weekend.

The bleachers varied in size. Some had nine rows of seating boards while others had 14. Some also had a back board that needed to be replaced. The individual boards also varied in size. The tread boards were 2 x 12 x 14, and the seating boards were 2 x 18 x 14. What’s more is that Van Sickle had to replace the boards for each bleacher individually.

“We could only take off one or two boards at a time, and replace them, or the framework would collapse,” Gregory Van Sickle said.

The 14-foot length was uncommon to be ordered that time of year, Mike Van Sickle added. The Van Sickles had to special order the treated boards and even had to cut a few 16-foot boards down to size.

Altogether, the project cost Van Sickle about $4,200. The funds were donated by various individuals and local businesses, and covered the cost for the lumber and necessary tools.

“It was quite a project,” Lewis said. “We thought it might be a little too much for him, but he proceeded, and the new bleachers have been a great hit with the community.”

The eagle award was presented to Van Sickle on March 8 at St. Joan of Arc church in Farmington.

Van Sickle first got involved with the scouts at age 5 as a tiger cub. He is a member of Troop 687.

Van Sickle graduated from Uniontown High School this past June where he also studied electrical work at the Fayette County Career and Technical Institute. During his time there, he won the regional competition in electrical construction twice, and then placed fourth and sixth at the state competition.

Van Sickle is currently preparing to join the Air Force as a radar and missile specialist. he has enlisted for a six year contract and will start out at an E2 rank, one step above the baseline E1 rank, thanks to his rank as an Eagle Scout.