Nov 12, 2014 3 min read

An extensive renovation project at Wash High Stadium will provide a new artificial surface for the football field, a refurbishing of the stands, and, eventually, improvements to the field house.

The project, estimated at $1 million, is being completely paid for by unspent money from the Qualified School Construction Bond and from some capital reserve funds, athletic director Joe Nicolella said. The project is expected to be completed by August 2015.

“We have a lot of older alumni who have been long-standing fans. It will be a shock to them when they see what it looks like (next football season),” Nicolella said. “But the spirit of the stadium will remain.”

Nicolella said the field will have multiple users, not strictly football. He said the band will practice on it and the baseball and softball teams will be able to use it for practice during inclement weather. The track team will still hold meets there and the stadium is open for public use during the day. The field will be lined for football and soccer.

Nicolella said the stadium was built in the mid-1930s and has undergone some renovation. But it was simply wearing out.

“It’s just getting older,” Nicolella said. “I think the field house was built in the 1930s through the WPA. I think they built the pavilion at (Washington Park) and must have stopped here on their way out of town to do the field house.”

ProGrass Synthetic Turf Systems, headquartered in Pittsburgh, will install the synthetic turf field, and the other projects will be bid out to contractors.

“In August, our business manager, Rick Mancini, gave me the task creating a proposal,” Nicolella said. “It was a three-month process. We visited some of the other (synthetic turf) fields in the area to see how they did it. We presented the proposal to the finance committee.”

Nicolella said the proposal was given the go-ahead at this week’s Washington School Board meeting.

The bleachers were becoming a safety issue because of their age, Nicolella said. They will be upgraded, new seating will be installed, wider aisles will be accompanied by new side rails and fencing and the aisles that come up from under the bleachers will be improved.

Initial renovation of the stadium included the press box, facade, concession stand, restrooms and Prexies Wall of Honor, and was completed in 2003, thanks to a wide use of community involvement.

At a later date, the field house will undergo renovations that will include refurbishing the unused apartment below the locker rooms into an officials dressing room.