Facilities at JM to Rival All
By SHAWN RINE, Ohio Sports EditorBob Montgomery says it has a lot to do with pride.
Simply, Chuck Duckworth said, it's about time.
However one chooses to assess the situation, the renaissance currently going on with John Marshall High School's athletic facilities has been nothing short of a total overhaul.
What began with the baseball field, moved to the soccer fields and the gym at the school, which houses the girls' basketball team, is branching off in a number of directions. A few years ago a new floor, scoreboards and scoring table were added to the old Moundsville Fieldhouse, which plays host to the boys' basketball team.
Now comes word artificial turf is next for the football field, which already owns a state-of-the-art video replay board.
''It's been 40 years at John Marshall and we really haven't had an upgrade,'' said Duckworth, the school's athletics director.
Truth be told, the decision to change football surfaces is one of necessity. Many of the same reasons Wheeling Park opted to switch from natural grass - weather and extensive use - are being thrown out there by John Marshall.
There's a good possibility Union Field's days are numbered, meaning Bishop Donahue will soon be in need of a place to play football games. Moundsville Junior High also shares the facility, as well as the Monarchs' freshman and junior varsity teams, and the Marshall County Pee Wee organization.
''I'm a traditionalist, I like the grass,'' new JM football coach Dan Wilson said. ''But there might be anywhere from 5-6 games a week on the field.
''You're pretty much looking at using it every day. If we get a weekend where it's rains, it would just be a mess.''
According to Duckworth, a new eight-lane track will surround the field, though no timetable has been set for the project.
Wilson says that in addition to the track, there's talk of bleacher renovation, bringing the total cost to somewhere in the $2-million range.
''There's a lot of pride in our sports at John Marshall,'' Wilson said. ''There's also going to be a brand-new wrestling room added on to our weight room - almost as big as our weightroom. The wrestling program raised that money themselves.
''Mr. (Fred) Renzella is really a great superindentent, and Chuck is so active making it happen.''
Baseball Showed the Way
Montgomery's on-field legacy has been secure for years. He's in the top five all-time in West Virginia in terms of victories, and his clubs are perennial state-title contenders.
But long after he's coached his final game, the field which many have compared to a Minor League stadium, might be what people remember him and wife, Sabrina, for most.
''It's not just for present, but also future generations,'' Montgomery said. ''For a long time, hardly anything was going on with facilities.
''Im biased, but I lean toward Sabrina - she has really jumpstarted our county. When she started taking on our field as a project, a pet of hers, (now) our high school and community seriously talk about and do upgrades.''
Bob noted that with 46 schools currently in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference, and two more - Parkersburg South and Marietta - possibly on the verge of joining, it only makes sense that programs are constantly playing a game of 'Can You Top This?'
''A lot of us are close to each other, it seems like we're just feeding off each other,'' he said. ''Park, our rival, if they are putting in a new infield for them, restructuring their home run fence or getting new dugouts (we want to keep up).
''Whenever I go anywhere, if we're on an insterstate and we see something that might look interesting, we'll stop and look around.''
In the works for Monarch Field are lights so night games will be possible, and for the first time, bleachers.
The bleachers are scheduled to go in ''between the wall and new pressbox, and down the first- and third-base lines,'' Montgomery said.
''Facility-wise for a long time, we let it ride.''
Overall, he said, the school is just ''trying to have a little more pride.''
Where's the Fieldhouse?
Once old Moundsville High School, then Junior High was torn down earlier this year, many wondered about the fate of the adjoinging Fieldhouse. If you've driven past the facility lately, you can see there are major cosmetic improvements taking place.
The outside isn't even the half of it, though, says Duckworth.
''You won't even recognize it - we gutted the inside of the place,'' he said. ''(Recently) we put in the new floor and the new scoreboard, but it was still the same facility.''
According to boys' basketball coach Bill Storm, what's being done could be summed up simply as restoring a little bit of pride.
The building has received a new roof, the wooden seats on the home side will now be plastic and the isles in between them will be wider in order to get up to code. Inside what is now the pass gate will be an elevator that will take fans to the balcony, which itself will feature new seating.
There will be new men's and women's restrooms, which were so bad Storm termed them ''embarrassing.'' The women's will feature 15-20 toilets and will extend into what used to be a cafeteria.
''Back in the 70s when I was in school, we were the class of everyone,'' Storm said. ''We have some ideas. We would like to start some tradition.
''We have some pictures and things that we could hang up in the dressing room to make it feel more like our own.''
The main entrance will be on the left side of the facility, and where the boys' restroom once stood will be an officials room. In addition, there will also be a coach's office.
''The best thing is when they built the junior high and Moundsville went to that gym, and now we can practice on our own floor,'' Storm said. ''The kids are really looking forward to it.''
And fans should be also.
They tore off the part of the facility that faces W.Va. 2, which should allow for at least 40 additional parking places.
''And the steps (leading to the entrance) are supposed to have a heating element in case of snow or ice,'' Storm said.
Shawn Rine can be reached via e-mail at Rine@theintelligencer.net
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Blackrock
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08-24-08 6:01 AM
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The test scores at this school are abhorrent. But at least the parents can sit at nice athletic facilities while their children receive a poor education.
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MoundtownEer
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08-23-08 7:26 AM
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Only thing I did not hear about are new rest rooms at Monarch Field. The current rest rooms are an embarrassing. The other thing is locker rooms for visiting football teams, they need to be added, unless they are using the basketball locker rooms.
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