Old Airfield Re-Purposed As Muskogee Sports Complex

The cold temperatures make it difficult for some off-season athletic training, but in Muskogee they've found a way around that by re-purposing Hatbox Field. Muskogee turned one of the old hangars into a place for kids' sports teams to practice indoors.

An old airplane hangar at Hatbox Field is now called Love-Hatbox Sports Complex. Over the past 15 years, it's grown from an old airport to a place for workouts.

Ball fields and a water park now line the World War II-era airfield and runways. The last plane flew out in October, and now one of the hangars is being repurposed.

"This was one of the original hangars built out here, so there's a lot of history in this building," said Neil Hays, Love-Hatbox Sports Complex. "We've tried not to take away from it, and try to keep with it."

Neil Hays manages Love-Hatbox Sports Complex. He says the hangar conversion project is helping meet the community's demand for indoor sports practice.

"The surrounding community love it. so they don't have to drive 45 miles away to external communities to go get that type of training and facility," Hays said.

Softball practice already started and the sports complex says the hangar can hold everything from batting to golf practice.

"We've got teams signing up left and right trying to get in here and starting to book space now that we are operational," said Neil Hays, manager of the complex. "Aesthetics are coming, but right now it is open and we just can't wait for this month to take place and see more and more teams."

Eventually, the sports complex will become a hub for some of the city's community events like a concert series planned this summer.

Now that the training facility is complete, the next phase is to turn the runways into city streets.