Scott Treadway put forth countless hours to improve the quality of amateur baseball in Rowan County.

Preliminary plans are in the works to make sure his efforts are never forgotten.

Treadway, 42, passed away on Sunday morning from an apparent heart attack. The visitation took place last night at Summersett Funeral Home, and the funeral will be held today at 2 p.m. at Enon Baptist Church.

Treadway, who was the athletic director at Knox Middle School, also founded Rowan Baseball Inc., and supervised the Area III baseball umpires.

“He was really out for the community as far as baseball goes,”said WSTP’s Howard Platt, a long-time friend. “He always wanted to enhance it in the county — that was one of his biggest goals.”

Treadway never ceased in those efforts. He had recently been working on the construction of a new baseball field at Overton Elementary School.

Overton used to have a field, but it was demolished to make room for additions to the school.

Treadway, along with Herman Troutman, Rowan-Salisbury School’s superintendent for operations, put together a plan to build a new field.

“He’s really a first-class man, and we were trying to do the best we could for him,” Troutman said.

Treadway had been struggling somewhat to raise money for the construction project, but Marny Hendrick, who worked with Treadway at RBI, said the field will get finished.

Tony Helms, the principal at Knox, said there are also plans to name the field after Treadway.

“It would be great if they named the field after him,”Hendrick said. “It would be a great tribute.”

Treadway and Hendrick came up with the idea of forming a non-profit organization that could raise money for baseball in the area.

RBI sponsors the Dick Williams “Good Guys” Tournament, which was held last weekend, and the Cliff Peeler Baseball Classic, which takes place at Easter.

Hendrick said he is committed to keeping RBI running smoothly, and he said the Easter tournament should go on as planned.

“(Scott) is very difficult to replace, but he’d be pretty upset if we let it drop,” Hendrick said.

Treadway’s impact at Knox will also be missed — and not just from an athletic standpoint.

Treadway had been working recently to raise money so that teachers who recently received computers could also get printers.

Treadway had been the athletic director at Knox for two years, and Helms praised his efforts to stress academics to the athletes.

“He’s probably one of the best AD’s I’ve ever worked with,”Helms said. “He always had the school on his mind and always cared about the students.”

Treadway was recognized most for his efforts with American Legion baseball.

He served as the coordinator for the Southeastern Regionals that were held in Salisbury in 1996, and he had already been selected as an umpire for the upcoming American Legion World Series.

Platt spent many summer nights with Treadway, who created a chart to inform members of the media who the umpires for every regular season game would be.

“He worried about getting grief at games because he was from Rowan County, but he was always recognized as a respected umpire,”Platt said.

Platt joked that Treadway sometimes worried too much about what others thought about him.

That wasn’t necessary, considering what an unselfish person others characterized him as.

“He was not self-serving,” Hendrick said.“He never tried to take credit for anything. He enjoyed being around the ballpark, being around the coaches and being around the players.

“Everybody at the ballpark seemed to know him.”

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Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com .