Seventy years ago this coming Tuesday, on a Saturday evening, the Tivy football team played Kingsville, beating them 14 to 7. It was a double header; the Schreiner football team also played the North Texas Agricultural College Aggies. A crowd of about almost 6,000 people showed up, and even the Fredericksburg high school band and pep squad was there to celebrate, along with bands from Tivy and Schreiner Institute.
On November 1, 1941, you see, they dedicated the Tivy Stadium. And they dedicated it some great football.
Previously Tivy played on a field just behind the school, back when the high school was on Tivy Street. The field, I believe, was between College and Gilmer streets; looking at a satellite view on Google maps I can still see the outline of an oval toward the 2nd Street side of the site.
The site for the new staduim was donated to the school district by L. A. Schreiner, and the community approved a $25,000 bond issue early in 1941.
"It is truly a monument to the foresight and co-operative spirit which typifies this progressive area of the great Hill Country, and will serve the needs of youth for long years to come," the Kerrville Mountain Sun reported.
Prices for the event were modest: $1.10 for reserved seats; 75 cents for general admission, and 20 cents for students. Tickets were on sale at the Blue Bonnet Hotel.
"There are 3,000 permanent seats in the concrete section of the stadium, with another 3,000 bleacher seats along the south sideline. And should the need arise there is ample room for the placing of several thousand temporary seats. Student sections
ind the press box, with broadcasting and public address facilities, have been built on the south side, while the main entrance ticket windows, rest rooms, concession stands and business office are located atop the promenade deck on the north bowl. Team dressing rooms are also located on the south side."
Not wanting to disrupt an evening of football, the school planned for the dedication ceremony to be held between the two football games. "A brief ceremony of dedication will be held between the Schreiner-NTAC and Tivy-Kingsville games, however it will be very brief and filled with interest."
I love how the writer of the story used the word "brief" to describe the ceremony, and assured the readers the event would be filled with interest.
Community spirit was also evident in the way the proceeds from the games were distributed. "The Saturday program has been turned solely into a stadium benefit, with all the proceeds being directed into the bond retirement fund. This was made possible by the kind co-operation of Schreiner Institute authorities with the public schools."
The old field behind the high school was not abandoned without ceremony. Charles Lochte, president of Tivy's senior class that year, gave a short talk, and the student body sang a farewell song to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. Then the goalposts were taken down by the students and taken to the new field, with a downtown pep rally afterward.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native, who is thankful to a kind reader who pointed out the stadium's birthday. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times October 29, 2011
My Uncle Richard Goss was one of the co-captains of the Tivy team that night. We didn't know about that until he told about it in an interview with the Nimitz Museum a few years ago. He was a great guy and we miss him. He passed in 2006.
ReplyDeleteThe field was behind the old Tivy High School Building, but I'm not quite certain of the exact location. That was just too many years ago for me to remember.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do remember that the football field that was behind the high school had to be constructed because the previous field was the location where the elementary school building was built.
The building was built right on top of the previous high school athletic field.
70 years...no pics of initial construction but suspect it still looks the same (just more rundown) and still no paved parking lot for Tivy fans. More than $1.1M over 7 years for synthetic turf, though.
ReplyDeleteAwesome article....thanks for sharing it.....
ReplyDelete