When Jose Ledon arrived in the United States as a 9-year-old Cuban immigrant, he looked at the white stuff on the ground and frowned.

He wasn’t sure he liked the snow.   And because of it, he wasn’t sure he was going to like his new country.

Now, some 40 years later, Ledon is loving life and giving back to the country that gave him so much.

Ledon, a contractor in Las Vegas, along with wife Elizabeth, donated the majority of the funds for a new baseball and softball complex at Doane College in Crete.

The Jose M. and Elizabeth Ledon Softball and Baseball Complex will be dedicated today at 2:30 p.m.  The Ledons' daughter, Alyssa, is a sophomore catcher for the Tigers.

The Doane softball team will play Nebraska Wesleyan today. Jose Ledon will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

“It’s such a long history why I wanted to do something like this,” Ledon said. “I came to this country with nothing and I’ve gotten so much from this country. This is my way of showing what America has meant to me.

“I just wanted to give back somehow, somewhere, and this is where it started.” Ledon said. “I would still love to have a school with my name on it, but this campus and this complex is beautiful.”

And Ledon, who lived on a farm in Cuba, liked the atmosphere of the farming community.

“When I come here, I get in my rental car and drive through the cornfields and just light up my cigar and look,” Ledon said. “It just keeps bringing back memories of the farm. I love it out here.”

The journey began last season, Alyssa Ledon’s first at Doane, when Jose Ledon asked softball coach Barry Mosley for a wish list.

All Mosley asked for were a few batting cages. The cages were ordered, but because of back orders,  they would arrive until near the end of the season.

“I told Jose, ‘Well, Jose, it looks like those batting cages won’t be needed anymore,’” Mosley said.

“He said, ‘That’s OK, coach. I have a better idea.’ Obviously, I was blown away.”

The deal was signed in July, and construction began Oct. 4.

“If we hadn’t had the weather we  did it would have been done sooner,” Ledon said.

Mosley has few words to say about the gift.

“Jose always says he built it because of me. This is his gift to me for basically being a surrogate father to his daughter while she is here,” Mosley said. “I can’t do anything but hug the guy and forever thank him.”

Reach Lori Griffin at 473-7174 or lgriffin@journalstar.com.