JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When Eddie Bounds, an officer with the Neptune and Jacksonville beach police departments for 42 years, passed away from complications due to COVID-19 back in 2021, it broke the hearts of so many in the beaches community.
“It was during COVID and it came as a shock to people frankly,” Neptune Beach Mayor Cori Bylund said Saturday morning. “It was shocking.”
Read: Publix employee rescues teen trapped in sinking truck
Saturday morning, friends, family, and leaders from throughout the beaches community gathered to honor Bounds by dedicating a baseball field at Jarboe Park in his honor.
The project has been more than a year in the making, now finished with the field to be known as “Eddie Bounds Field.”
“We had some internal discussions about who we should name the field for and if we should name it, because not all of them could have just been Jarboe Park Baseball Field,” Mayor Bylund explained. “And his name came up immediately to my mind.”
Janice Bounds, Eddie’s wife, told Action News Jax Saturday that ultimately, there couldn’t be a more fitting way to remember her husband.
“He played himself here, Little League, at Wingate Park, and rose the ranks through Fletcher [High School], and then to give back and coach t-ball all the way up to high school,” Janice explained. “Some of these kids he would still be in contact with and [they] would tell him what an impact he made in their life.”
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
Now, the hope is that through the newly named field, Eddie’s memory can live on, not only as the coach and mentor that he was on the diamond, but as the man he was in the Neptune Beach community.
“It’s very emotional because this just goes to show that he was, I knew he was a good man, but to see it and to hear it from everyone else is humbling,” Janice said, holding back tears. “Our family is beyond grateful.”
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
