TERRELL, Texas – The Friday night lights in Terrell will –quite literally– shine brighter this year, and Terrell ISD administrators hope that the approximately $5 million worth of improvements at Memorial Stadium will be the visible highlight of many changes and upgrades around the district over the summer. Call it extreme makeover – stadium edition.
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As the city grew up around it, Memorial Stadium seemed to languish in the past. Wooden visitor bleachers, tricky walkways, a questionable press box, and a natural grass playing surface with plenty of holes made Friday night games memorable for all the wrong reasons.
“We want to have a facility that our kids and community can be proud of, not embarrassed by when we have other teams come to Terrell,” said TISD Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jason Gomez. “Of course we want the field to be safe for our kids, but we also want some curb appeal, so that when people drive by, we want them to see a small-town feel but with a ‘wow,’ and be able to treat our guests well.”
Improvements to the stadium include new artificial turf on the field, a concrete parking lot surface, a completely new and larger press box and facade, new video scoreboard, new lights, and a number of aesthetic and access improvements throughout the facility.
Not in the budget, however, was any increase in seating capacity.
“Compare $5 million to update this to a competitive 4A/5A stadium to the $20-$25 million stadiums that many other districts have built,” Gomez said. “We may have to add seats when we start winning, but this gives us a lot of bang for our buck. A lot of districts, without naming names, build stadiums that are overbuilt capacity-wise, and on an average Friday night they look half-empty. When you come here, the stadium will be full.”
One thing that will remain the same is the close-in feel for fans that old stadiums without running tracks can provide. While the field was widened as much as possible, fans will still be well within earshot of hard hits, coach rants, yelling cheerleaders, and halftime band performances.
“Structurally, everything was good, and it has a vintage look,” said Gomez. “We have updated the stands to ADA (Americans with Disabilties Act) compliance and made it a safer environment with larger sidelines. But the location is important. The 1952 and 1957 teams that won state championships played here, and many other successful teams throughout the years.”
For TISD Athletic Director Buster Leaf, who came to the district after football season ended last year, the stadium is a clean slate.
“We are going to dispel all of the negative, because this will be a first-class place to host athletic events, fine arts events, and civic activities,” Leaf said. “It makes a statement that we care about our kids and want to give them the very best that we can to give them the opportunity to be successful, and that is reflected in the academic improvements also.”
The team will play in a revamped district 12-5A this year, adding Rockwall-Heath, Royse City and South Garland to the already familiar teams from Forney and North Forney, Mesquite Poteet, and West Mesquite. With new coaches, new facilities, and new opponents, Leaf seems to have unbridled optimism amid all of the change.
“There is a lot of new, but from where we are we needed that,” he said. “Coach Shields has made great strides on attitudes and expectations. It is a new approach, not just on offense and defense, but a whole new way we do things. We are here to win. We have a long way to go and a lot of things to get done, but the coaches are ready for that challenge.”
For a team that has played for three head coaches in the last five years, change has been a constant challenge. While the players may take some time to adapt to a new system on the field, the field itself may give them some motivation to play up to expectations.
“The old stadium was, I guess, a classic, but this turf, the red end zones … it will actually feel like we are in an important game,” said senior Dylon Wieland. “I think it will make us play harder, like we have something to prove. We have to prove it was worth making the changes.”
The stadium remodel has tallied about half of nearly $10 million in facility improvements around TISD this summer, with major improvements also happening at Terrell High School, John F. Kennedy Elementary and W.H. Burnett Elementary. While that split may seem to prioritize athletics, Gomez noted that sports play an important role in the education of many students.
“That is a tough question for all school districts, but we believe athletics and extracurricular activities are part of the education process,” he said. “We are educating kids in work ethic, character and soft skills … things you can get on the football field, the soccer field, or the weight room that you can’t get in the classroom. This is education, and a vital part of how we educate the whole child, so certainly the money is well spent for that. We want to change the culture of our whole school system. Changing the physical aspects of the school sends a message that we are changing education, changing how teachers teach, changing how much kids are learning, and significantly raising our level of expectation.”
And on Friday nights, Leaf has a few expectations of his own.
“I want the stadium full, I want the crowd loud, and I want the kids excited the first time they walk onto this turf,” he said. “Once it is all completed, people see it and take ownership of it. This can create a great sense of pleasure and pride about our school and community.”
“We want to have a facility that our kids and community can be proud of, not embarrassed by when we have other teams come to Terrell,” said TISD Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jason Gomez. “Of course we want the field to be safe for our kids, but we also want some curb appeal, so that when people drive by, we want them to see a small-town feel but with a ‘wow,’ and be able to treat our guests well.”
Improvements to the stadium include new artificial turf on the field, a concrete parking lot surface, a completely new and larger press box and facade, new video scoreboard, new lights, and a number of aesthetic and access improvements throughout the facility.
Not in the budget, however, was any increase in seating capacity.
“Compare $5 million to update this to a competitive 4A/5A stadium to the $20-$25 million stadiums that many other districts have built,” Gomez said. “We may have to add seats when we start winning, but this gives us a lot of bang for our buck. A lot of districts, without naming names, build stadiums that are overbuilt capacity-wise, and on an average Friday night they look half-empty. When you come here, the stadium will be full.”
One thing that will remain the same is the close-in feel for fans that old stadiums without running tracks can provide. While the field was widened as much as possible, fans will still be well within earshot of hard hits, coach rants, yelling cheerleaders, and halftime band performances.
“Structurally, everything was good, and it has a vintage look,” said Gomez. “We have updated the stands to ADA (Americans with Disabilties Act) compliance and made it a safer environment with larger sidelines. But the location is important. The 1952 and 1957 teams that won state championships played here, and many other successful teams throughout the years.”
For TISD Athletic Director Buster Leaf, who came to the district after football season ended last year, the stadium is a clean slate.
“We are going to dispel all of the negative, because this will be a first-class place to host athletic events, fine arts events, and civic activities,” Leaf said. “It makes a statement that we care about our kids and want to give them the very best that we can to give them the opportunity to be successful, and that is reflected in the academic improvements also.”
The team will play in a revamped district 12-5A this year, adding Rockwall-Heath, Royse City and South Garland to the already familiar teams from Forney and North Forney, Mesquite Poteet, and West Mesquite. With new coaches, new facilities, and new opponents, Leaf seems to have unbridled optimism amid all of the change.
“There is a lot of new, but from where we are we needed that,” he said. “Coach Shields has made great strides on attitudes and expectations. It is a new approach, not just on offense and defense, but a whole new way we do things. We are here to win. We have a long way to go and a lot of things to get done, but the coaches are ready for that challenge.”
For a team that has played for three head coaches in the last five years, change has been a constant challenge. While the players may take some time to adapt to a new system on the field, the field itself may give them some motivation to play up to expectations.
“The old stadium was, I guess, a classic, but this turf, the red end zones … it will actually feel like we are in an important game,” said senior Dylon Wieland. “I think it will make us play harder, like we have something to prove. We have to prove it was worth making the changes.”
The stadium remodel has tallied about half of nearly $10 million in facility improvements around TISD this summer, with major improvements also happening at Terrell High School, John F. Kennedy Elementary and W.H. Burnett Elementary. While that split may seem to prioritize athletics, Gomez noted that sports play an important role in the education of many students.
“That is a tough question for all school districts, but we believe athletics and extracurricular activities are part of the education process,” he said. “We are educating kids in work ethic, character and soft skills … things you can get on the football field, the soccer field, or the weight room that you can’t get in the classroom. This is education, and a vital part of how we educate the whole child, so certainly the money is well spent for that. We want to change the culture of our whole school system. Changing the physical aspects of the school sends a message that we are changing education, changing how teachers teach, changing how much kids are learning, and significantly raising our level of expectation.”
And on Friday nights, Leaf has a few expectations of his own.
“I want the stadium full, I want the crowd loud, and I want the kids excited the first time they walk onto this turf,” he said. “Once it is all completed, people see it and take ownership of it. This can create a great sense of pleasure and pride about our school and community.”