&#8220There could be no two finer people to dedicate this building to than Alton Little and Biff Kummer,” said John Deeb as he stood outside the new city recreation center Thursday at 333 College St.

Around him, a crowd of city workers, recreation professionals and educators, and friends and family members were gathered to praise Little and William &#8220Biff” Kummer as they cut the ribbon on the new Kummer/Little Recreation Center. The building was named for them as a tribute to their years of work promoting and developing the parks and recreation system, said Deeb, chairman of the city Board of Park Commissioners.

Both are retired professors from Western Kentucky University’s Recreation and Park Administration program. Little taught for 36 years, and Kummer for 31, said city Parks and Recreation director Ernie Gouvas. Kummer has served on the Board of Park Commissioners for 22 years, while Little has been on it 14 years, and both have won many awards for their long and varied public service, according to Gouvas. He said that probably half the recreation professionals in Kentucky, and the majority in Bowling Green, were trained by Kummer and Little.

The recreation center, which took 11 months to build, is part of a $3.6 million expansion that included renovating the adjacent F.O. Moxley Community Center. Its completion raises the amount of parks and recreation areas downtown to 20 acres, unusual for a city this size, Gouvas said.

Inside the building, the lobby opens past the round front desk directly onto two basketball courts, which are encircled by an elevated walking track.

The building’s last details are being finished, and it will be open to the public Oct. 1, Gouvas said. For the first month, public hours will be from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., but that will change when the November basketball league starts, he said.

Mayor Elaine Walker and City Manager Kevin DeFebbo also praised Kummer and Little, adding their endorsement of the city’s growing park system.

Kummer and Little, in turn, directed attention away from themselves and toward their longtime colleagues and the value of recreation programs.

&#8220This isn’t a building about Alton and myself,” Kummer said. &#8220This is a building about all of you.”

Little said the four-member recreation department at Western worked together for 25 years.

&#8220We looked at ourselves as a family,” he said. He was surprised to be told in May that the building would bear his name, Little said.

&#8220I am thrilled,” he said – not just for the honor, but for the potential of the building itself to improve people’s lives, especially young people. That, Little said, was the important thing.

&#8220Biff and I both thank you for this, but please, continue to do the things you need to do for recreation,” he said.

Gouvas announced that David Compton, a former colleague of Kummer’s at the University of Utah, is putting together a &#8220scholarship fund” in Kummer’s name to pay program fees at the gym for needy children. Those fees will be low anyway, and will only apply to programs such as the basketball league and indoor soccer, Gouvas said.

&#8220The overwhelming majority of things will be free,” he said.