Danville rallies behind football program, pledges $2M for turf and stadium upgrades

It takes a village to raise a child.

The community of Danville truly believes that old African proverb. The community has long been a place with a safe, healthy environment; where children are given the security they need to develop, flourish, and realize their hopes and dreams.

This year, the community stepped up once again and have provided a place for Danville youths to learn the values of hard work, dedication and family. Nearly $2 million was raised for the construction of a new high school turf football field, as well as improvements to Tough Street Stadium. The new turf was unveiled and saw its first game action last Friday in a scrimmage with Newark Catholic.

“It's a special thing. A lot of work went into this and a lot of work by people in the shadows made it happen,” said Danville football coach Matt Blum. “The best part is our kids, and our future generation of kids, will be able to benefit from this for a very, very long time. It's a blessing. It's something our entire community can be proud of and something we're going to cherish for the years to come.”

“This is a commitment to the tradition of excellence that started a long time ago. My kids are already grown, but for my grandkids and future generations, we want them to know the community is behind them,” said Marc Hawk, a member of the fundraising committee for the project.

The project started out as a dream by Blum and assistant coach Charlie Duncan. After playing in a muddied mess of a field two seasons ago against East Knox and then losing several home playoff games because the field was not in good enough condition, Duncan asked about the possibility of getting a turf field.

“We had moles. Our maintenance guys tried everything, but we just couldn't kill them. They just kept coming back,” Duncan said. “Maybe we can't afford it (a turf field) but at least let's look into it. We found the numbers, and they're high, but it wasn't out of our reach. Blum and I said, ‘Let's find out. You can't say no to a number if you don't know what it is.’”

The duo started calling around, first to a friend who helped Clear Fork High School build their turf field. Then, to some business owners and alumni from Danville.

The answer, at first, was no. The cost of a turf field was going to be too much.

But, then after finding out it would cost just about as much to really fix the grass field, the thoughts began to change.

“Coach Blum, after a couple of seasons of frustration with the quality of the field, he and Charlie Duncan started last fall talking to school board, doing studies with Field Source Ohio and really evaluated what could be done,” Hawk said. “They were just trying to figure it out, because it’s embarrassing when you have a great team and a bad field. They were frustrated because you can’t practice on it as much. It really kills their ability to do what they needed to do to really serve the kids and athletes. Let alone the junior high kids, the colt kids and anybody else who wanted to use the field.

“Our initial reaction was we didn't think we could probably make that happen but let us get into some conversations and do a little research. We came to the realization that within five years, it would cost us as much to rebuild the grass as it would be to put a turf field in. The cost up front, plus the annual maintenance, was within a range of what we thought the field would cover. We were going to tear it down and then rebuild it and level it out. There was a 5-foot drop from one end of the field to the other. That's half a million dollars, just to do the grass. Then, you get into an area where you've still got to protect the playing field. The use vs the cost was a very bad situation.”

The Hawk brothers — Doug, Dave, Michael and Marc — reached out to friends like Tony Mickley, an engineer; their nephew, Thomas Hawk; and Branton Boeshart, Todd Durbin and Derrick Stull, guys who worked construction for many years.

That group became a committee dedicated to determining the best options, their costs and how to secure the funding needed. It didn't take long for them to find out the community was right there with them, ready to give whatever was needed to make a nice home for the football program.

Substantial pledges from the Boeshart and Hawk families proved to the rest of the community this was viable, and pledges started pouring in from the community, as well as from alumni in places like New York City, Mississippi and San Jose, California. In all, 175 donors have pledged nearly $2 million for the project. The community was asked to sign a five-year pledge, allowing them more time to possibly give even more money than they could in a one-time donation.

After seeing how much money was pledged, the committee decided it would be best to make it a complete stadium renovation and not just a new turf field. The field was moved 10 feet to the south to create a safer environment near the end zones, then a new wall and fence would be put up around the stadium. There will also be a new ticket booth/storage facility on the visitor's side, as well as concrete pads and sidewalks all around the field. The visitor's sideline is expandable, allowing for more bleacher seating. With all the extra work, the stadium renovation is going to cost around $1.5 million.

The money the committee raised will pay for all those renovations, as well as put some aside for maintenance and upkeep of the surface, as well as for a new turf when this one exceeds its normal lifespan of around 10 years.

Field Source Ohio and Motz, a turf company out of Cincinnati, were responsible for installing the turf, but the rest of the stadium work is being completed by local contractors. The turf is called One Turf, the same playing surface that's being used by Ohio State University and the Cincinnati Bengals. Hawk said that since their field won't be used as much as other schools that have soccer, lacrosse and other sports, it should last a few years longer.

The project was more than just a regular project for Marc Hawk and his brothers. Even though their children are grown, they know the importance of giving back for future generations. While Marc was playing football at Danville in the 1980s, his dad, Ron, found out their weight room was in above a bar in town. The team used the American Legion home at the top of the hill, east of the stadium, as its locker room, but had to go upstairs at the local bar to lift weights as there was no room in the high school.

Ron Hawk got together with the Danville Athletic Boosters and helped build the fieldhouse the team currently uses as its locker room and weight room facility.

“As longtime boosters as a family, our family is entrenched in the community with businesses,” Marc Hawk said. “Dad, along with several other leaders, put together the field house. We all remember that because it changed things. To be honest, when you look forward from 1990, the result of that led to incredible success. I graduated in ’88, and we were OK. But then we started hitting the playoffs and having great teams — 22 out of the next 30 made the playoffs. The quality came from the community getting behind the team.”

Now, he's hoping the community's next investment in its youths turns into something just as grand.