Ed Arnold, left, is honored for his support for the Universally Accessible Playground project during a groundbreaking ceremony at the Fountain Valley Sports Park on Oct. 4, 2023.

If Ed Arnold’s voice wasn’t the one emanating from their living room, many found him making an impact in their community just the same.

Arnold’s career included time spent as a sports reporter for radio stations in the Southland. He also spent decades as a sports anchor for KTLA and KABC.

The longtime sportscaster died of heart failure on April 10 at the age of 85.

Arnold had resided in Fountain Valley since 1973, and this week, the community he had long called home and made his imprint on as a volunteer decided to honor him by renaming the entrance to the Fountain Valley Sports Park.

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Those who turn into the park off Brookhurst Street will soon do so at Ed Arnold Way. The City Council voted unanimously to support the change on Tuesday, renaming the entryway at Heil Avenue.

The item appeared on the consent calendar this week after the council considered a couple of options to recognize the late Arnold in a study session on June 3. The panel also entertained renaming Ellis Park after Arnold, and it decided to wait to consider that as part of the parks master plan.

Arnold’s wife, Dixie, and son, Dean, attended the proceedings as the council pondered how best to recognize the revered community member, whose ties ran deep with the Boys & Girls Club of Huntington Valley. He was also a founding member of the Fountain Valley Rotary Club and the Special Olympics in Southern California.

“All of this is an honor,” Dixie said at the June 3 meeting. “It’s an honor for Ed. … When I heard of the Ed Arnold Way, I just immediately thought of how many people who know about him, or know him. It would encourage stories to come out about what’s happened in Fountain Valley, and in our lives together — in organizations, wherever we are in life — people we’ve passed, and people we’ve had in our lives that have influenced us, and Ed Arnold was one of them.”

Dixie noted she was touched by the “love and respect” she was hearing spoken from the dais.

“My dad spent his whole life just wanting to help others and make their lives better,” Dean said. “He used his television platform … to benefit others. If he was here, he’d probably say, ‘Why are you wasting your time on this? Focus on other things,’ but at the same time, you look at what he did his whole life, and I left the celebration thinking, ‘Boy, I need to start doing something, just contribute how I can.’”

During the study session last month, Councilman Glenn Grandis advocated for the street renaming as the option of greatest visibility to the community. He was enthusiastic about the idea of city parades ending up on Ed Arnold Way. The street’s proximity to the Boys & Girls Club was yet another positive.

“Every parent, every kid who enters and leaves the facility will see Ed Arnold Way, and I think the way to honor him is to have the most visibility, and putting it on Brookhurst is the most visibility,” Grandis said.

City policy regarding the naming of neighborhood parks states that those adjacent to schools will be named after the school. Where there is not a school next to the park, it can be named according to its geographical location.

Rob Frizzelle, the city’s director of community services, said there are 21 city-owned parks, five of which have names based on their geographical location. That includes Ellis Park, which is off of Ellis Avenue.

The Ellis family owned 110 acres of ranch land and operated one of the first dairies in Orange County, Frizzelle noted. While he said there was no record of the park being named after the family, background information presented did state that Jack Ellis had been on a committee supporting the vote for the incorporation of the city of Fountain Valley.

“Probably the sign would be the quicker project that we could do to get the visibility, but I don’t want to lose sight of the park renaming,” Vice Mayor Jim Cunneen said. “It would be a great honor, I think, to the family, because that’s where you all live, that’s where you played, that’s where all the memories are, so I think that’s a special place.”

A recognition ceremony is being planned for Thursday, July 31 during a Concert in the Park event. Community members will be invited to take a picture with the new street sign, and a commemorative sign will be given on stage to the Arnold family.

“The neat thing about that is it is the entrance to the Boys & Girls Club, which Ed was a strong proponent of and board member, and then also, the [universally accessible playground] is there,” Frizzelle said. “We regularly host Special Olympics events and their annual Fall Games, which is one of the largest Southern California Special Olympics events.”