For Terry Dean, baseball is more than a pastime; it’s a purpose.
His love for the game started in his childhood, when Terry and his older brother, Duane, played Little League Baseball with their father, Earl, as their coach. With Duane on the pitcher’s mound and Terry guarding home plate, the brothers saw their father model leadership, sportsmanship, and dedication to values that Earl taught the many children he coached in Circleville over the years.
Terry Dean
“My dad knew something about every kid he coached,” said Terry. “He treated us like we were major leaguers—that’s just how my dad was. He made sure every kid had a chance to be the best player they could be.”
Decades later, Terry remains deeply devoted to baseball. His nickname, “Dizzy Dean,” is a nod to former professional baseball player Jay Hanna “Dizzy” Dean. Meanwhile, Terry, now in his 80s, can often be found at Lou Berliner Sports Park in Columbus, where he umpires slow pitch softball and plays in a senior softball league.
Terry, a 1960 graduate of Circleville High School, frequently hears stories about “Coach Dean” from former players who remember his father fondly. Wanting to honor that legacy—and give something lasting back to the community that shaped him—Terry created the Earl Dean Field of Dreams Fund at The Columbus Foundation in 2012. Through the fund, Terry has given an extraordinary $1.1 million to Circleville City Schools to transform the district’s baseball and softball diamonds into state-of-the-art facilities.
Terry throwing the ceremonial first pitch at the Earl Dean Field of Dreams.
Completed during the 2025-2026 school year, the revitalized fields now feature high-performance turf infields that stay playable through rain and heavy use. Terry’s generous gift also supported improvements to the outfields and spectator seating areas, turning the complex—now called the Earl Dean Champions Complex—into a place where student athletes compete on professional-grade surfaces and where community members gather with a renewed sense of pride.
“It’s special that a graduate of Circleville wanted to do something like this to give back to his school and community,” said Brian Bigam, a Circleville alumnus and head coach of the high school baseball team. “He’s impacting not just kids today, but for decades to come.”
At a ribbon cutting ceremony in April, Claire Davis, a 2026 graduate of Circleville High School and then member of the varsity softball team, told Terry, “It’s not just a place for us to play, but a place where we grow as athletes, as teammates, and as a community. Because of your generosity, we now have a space that inspires us to work harder, push further, and take pride in everything we do.”
While gazing out over the varsity baseball field—named the Earl Dean Field of Dreams—Terry reflected on another important value he inherited from his father: giving to others.
“My dad always told me that if I ever got ahead in life, to pay it forward and make this world better,” said Terry. “We all have an obligation to make this a better place for the next generation.”