Howard and Duke plan to open the facility the first or second week of June. When they started construction in October, they had planned to open in March, but heavy winter snows pushed the schedule back. While his younger partner was disheartened by the weather-related delays, Duke reassured him they will overcome the obstacles and the park will open. Duke is no stranger to such parks. His first experience with the sports parks is in Boardman, Ohio, the hometown of Duke's wife.
Family is important to both men.
Both are married and have young children. After graduating from high school in Seiling, Okla., in 1978, Duke went to Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma. Howard, an Amarillo native, went to Paramount Terrace Elementary School and James Crockett Middle School. After graduating from Tascosa High School in 1985, he went to Amarillo College. Both men agreed that Amarillo needed a place like Sports World where families could go.