Hermitage Precinct Detective Receives Roosevelt Award
Hermitage Precinct Detective Jeff Ball today was honored as the latest recipient of the prestigious Theodore Roosevelt Association Police Award. The award was bestowed during a luncheon ceremony at the Hermitage Precinct.
The Theodore Roosevelt Association Police Award is given to a police officer who has rendered outstanding and praiseworthy service to the department and the community despite a serious handicap, illness or injury.
On the morning of February 19, 1987, Ball, then a police department motorcycle officer, was riding to work on Broadway when a taxicab turned into his path at the intersection of 12th Avenue South. Officer Ball and the motorcycle slammed into the cab. The collision actually threw Ball over the roof of the taxi. He landed hard on the concrete sidewalk.
The crash broke Ball’s pelvis, both wrists, his left knee, ruptured his bladder and fractured vertebrae in his spine. He was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Soon after he regained consciousness, Ball learned from the Trauma Unit staff that they had been told not to give him “false hope.” He was not expected to live.
Jeff Ball was determined not to answer death’s knock and began a long, hard road toward recovery. He underwent several surgeries and many months of rehabilitation. His injuries forced him to take disability for a short time, but he had made up his mind about returning to the career he loved.
“I had wanted to be a police officer from the time I was five or six,” Ball said. “I enjoyed my work—and I wasn’t ready to retire.”
In 1988, Ball returned to the job. For four years he worked in traffic accident investigation. He then moved to robbery investigation and today is a detective at the Hermitage Precinct.
Ball, 51, is a 26-year police department veteran. He and his wife, Diann, have been married for 31 years. They have three children and four grandchildren.
“Jeff’s love of police work and his outstanding performance, even on days when the old injuries cause him discomfort, are part of this police department’s backbone,” Chief Ronal Serpas said. “I am very proud of him, and I am most grateful to the Theodore Roosevelt Association’s Jim Summerville and his colleagues for recognizing Jeff and his contributions to our city.”
The Theodore Roosevelt Association established this awards program in honor of Theodore Roosevelt’s distinguished service as President of the Board of Police Commissioners of New York City from 1895 to 1897, and in recognition of his lifelong admiration for the police.
Nashville is one of a handful of cities in the United States to present the Roosevelt Award. Others include New York City, Buffalo and upstate New York, Boston, Long Island, Dallas and Philadelphia.
“All his life, Theodore Roosevelt had an interest in the work of the police, and declared that there were no better people anywhere,” said Theodore Roosevelt Association President Norm Parsons of Sea Cliff, New York. “He’d be proud to be in Nashville today to shake the hand of Detective Jeff Ball and say, ‘Bully!’”
The generous support of Sprint/Nextel Communications makes this year’s award possible. Through Sprint/Nextel’s generosity, and that of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, Detective Ball will receive a $1,000 cash award, a medal, and a bust of Theodore Roosevelt. A bronze plaque, which bears a likeness of Roosevelt, and which is currently on display in the lobby of police headquarters, will now include the inscription of Detective Ball’s name.
Past Metro Police recipients of the Theodore Roosevelt Award were Sgt. Phillip Sage (1998), Detective Clifford Mann (1999), Detective Frank Pierce (2000), Sergeant James (Jimbo) Allen (2001), Officer William Richardson (2002), Detective Joe Cooper (2003), Officer Horace Temple (2004) and Officer Foster Hite (2005).
Information about the activities of the Theodore Roosevelt Association is available on the Internet, http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org.
Pictured (l-r) The Theodore Roosevelt Association’s Jim Summerville, Brenda Wilt of Sprint/Nextel Communications, Detective Jeff Ball, Diann Ball and The Theodore Roosevelt Association’s Bruce Holley.
Detective Ball was presented with this bust of Theodore Roosevelt. The bronze plaque, bearing Detective Ball’s name and those of previous Roosevelt award winners, is in the lobby of police headquarters.
Pictured (l-r) Chief Ronal Serpas, Detective Ball and Deputy Chief Steve Anderson