By Peggy Sturdivant

During what’s rightly called the golden hour before sunset I walked to the playing fields behind Ballard Community Center and Adams Elementary. Little League teams were starting practice in all four corners. Multiple teams didn’t occur to me when I’d arranged to stop by Coach Jake Hall’s practice.

I spotted a Limback’s hat in the southwest corner and moved on. “Elks?” I called timidly at the next diamond. “Nordics,” came the reply. I moved east toward the far end where huge sugar maples watch over the field from just beyond the fence.

I recognized the voice as I advanced on a semi-circle of players looking up at their deep voiced coach. He was telling them that it wasn’t about winning, but perseverance and teamwork. Jake Hall should know. He had just arrived after a long workday as a machinist in Georgetown to coach in the neighborhood where he grew up. He’s not even a parent, and he has a lot of other things on his home plate right now.

Hall isn’t just a blue-collar worker in a physical job, Little League coach and young man about to be married. He’s also Exalted Ruler at Ballard Elks Lodge #827, with a goal of raising $10,000 for Team Hall in the upcoming Walk MS 2016 5k on April 10th. It’s more than personal…it’s physical. Hall was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis two years ago and lives with constant pain in his knees and feet, pervasive fatigue and problems with one eye.

“I have good days and bad days,” he told me when we spoke by phone before I went looking for him on the playing fields. “If it’s fairly cool, it’s not horrible. As it gets warmer one eye gets a little blurry. Luckily I have really great vision in my good eye.”

Hall has been a member of Ballard Elks Lodge for five years. He started going with his brother to watch Seahawks games and got by the location overlooking Shilshole, the company, “and cheap drinks.” He joined and then slowly got more involved, as a committee chair, then an officer, accepting the Exalted Ruler position even though his diagnosis was new. The Elks has a highly philanthropic mission, through its scholarships and many charitable causes. Any of its members can suggest a charity, and put forth fun ideas for fundraising, which includes an annual car show, beer pong and sumo suit wrestling. “As long as it’s not too far out.”

“I selfishly proposed supporting the MS Society’s Northwest Chapter,” Hall said. His fiancée Calysta put together a team for the 2015 walk which had so many pledged dollars beforehand they were the only personal team with perks normally afforded only to corporate teams: big tent, prime location…they raised $7000. In fact Team Hall was named “Rookie Team of the Year.” So the MS Society suggested a goal of $10,000 for 2016. “I’m getting a little nervous,” Hall said.

Another member of the Ballard Elks #827 kicked in a $827 pledge immediately and the club is acting as fiscal agent for Team Hall so the total will be presented, “in one big check.” Ballard Elks #827 is on the national organization’s radar as the “fastest growing club in the nation.” They have done quite a bit of outreach in recent years, participating in Seafoodfest, Syttende Mai and attracting a younger set of members, mostly 30-40 year olds.

KOMO-4 planned a feature on Team Hall on March 28th, which should also help fundraising before the April 10th walk. “I’m lucky,” Jake Hall told me. “I’m young and active. I still play sports. It’s just a little tough sometimes because I’m on my feet all day.”

I took my photograph of Jake Hall and his Ballard Elks 10-12 team that. I thought about how he’s living in pain every day and yet working, coaching, leading, fundraising, playing sports, and planning a wedding, while “selfishly” proposing the Elks support the MS Society. I knew the sunset was going to be stunning, especially if you had a seat down at the Ballard Elks Club #827. Meanwhile back on the playing fields, practice was just starting.

Join or donate to Team Hall through Ballard Elks http://ballardelks.org/help-support-the-ms-society-walk-april-10th/