‘Wall Ball’ facility planned in honor of Tyler Moon

So he’s working with others to raise funds to construct a “wall ball” area at the county recreation department next to the tennis courts, which will include a cement pad and wall. He estimates that it will cost $10,000 and hopes the community will work together to raise funds for the wall, which will be dedicated to the late teen who loved sports, helping his community and laughing with his friends.

Rogers chuckles at the question: “What’s wall ball?”

“Well, if you ask any 8 to 10 year old boy, he’ll know,” said Rogers.

The game is very popular at the Madison County Recreation Department. Stop by the department on a busy baseball evening and you’ll likely see young kids hurling a tennis ball against the back of the dugouts.


Wall ball is a competitive game of pitch and catch that involves a tennis ball, a wall and two or more participants. (See the sidebar for more explanation)

In wall ball, there are no parents hollering about a blown call. It’s just childhood fun without pressures or expectations from any grownups.

“We really just want it to be something nice for the kids,” said Rogers.

The construction of wall ball area will also serve a practical purpose. Those dugout games of wall ball can cause distractions at the recreation department, with kids running into grandparents carrying concessions. The tennis ball occasionally flies onto the field. So, a separate area for the kids’ game will eliminate those problems.

The wall ball “court” will be a concrete surface approximately 40 feet deep, probably in red, because that was Moon’s favorite color. The wall will be 30 feet wide and 14 feet tall with a chain link fence at the top with a sign. Rogers said there will be some sort of dedication to Moon on the sign and he said two of Moon’s friends are working to come up with what it will say.

The wall will take 542 blocks to complete and blocks are available for purchase for $20 apiece. Red and black bracelets for kids are being sold in Moon’s honor for $3 apiece. Those bracelets say “Tyler Forever.” Fox’s Pizza in Danielsville has also agreed to donate proceeds from a new menu item, “Moon Pies,” which are three-meat pizzas, including pepperoni, sausage and hamburger meat. Rogers says that was Moon’s favorite kind of pizza.

An account has been set up at First Citizens Bank for the wall ball project. Donations can be made at any of the branch locations to the “Tyler Moon Wall Ball Fund.”

For more information on the wall ball project, contact Rogers at 706-296-5216.

Rogers says the goal is to get the project completed this summer.

“Sept. 5 is Tyler’s birthday and we’re hoping to have this done by then,” said Rogers.

Rogers said if any funds are leftover from the fund-raising effort, they will be used for an opening day, ribbon-cutting party at the wall ball facility.

“We’d like it to be kind of a like a field day for the kids,” said Rogers, who hopes to have a moon walk, wiffle ball games, tug of war games, a wall ball tournament, hot dogs and hamburgers at the event.