Stadium disasters

[ImFromOutEast 14]

I'm going to tell you about the "old" field at King and Queen Central. Before I start let me say the current facility is located on the same property but runs north to south, while the "old" field ran east to west. Central is scheduled to upgrade its lighting system to college level quality in time for the 2023 home opener. Now, Central didn't have a home field the first 2 or 3 years they played football so their "home" games were at West Point. When they finally got a stadium, it was a combo/field with the lighting system supporting the baseball field which had no outfield fence. The football field continuously had mole problems resulting in twisted ankles and turf-monster tackles. One time a running back was en route to a long distance TD run when he tripped over the pitching rubber that had been left on te field! Seating at the stadium was sparse. I'd say it could accommodate no more than 250 so there was a whole lot of standing going on. The scoreboard was just large enough to display the score, the time and had 4 dots below the time to indicate what quarter the game was in. The clock operator sat in a school desk just below the clock. The console was on the desk and had a wire running to the scoreboard. The stadium lighting was equipped with incandescent bulbs which meant the field was dimly lit. I recall a game played there in the rain and you could hear the light bulbs exploding from contact with the rain!

[ImFromOutEast 14]

Any similar stories about stadia in SWVA?

[Liam McPoyle 1,863]

Smyth Co leaders in 1950s didn't see the harm in constructing Chilhowie HS and Warrior Stadium atop an Indian burial ground. I'm not typically superstitious, but the constantly vibrating goalposts are creepy AF.

 

 

[SWVAgridiron 1,469]

Fort Chiswell visitor bleachers… absolutely horrible. They’re wooden and I think I counted like 5+ holes in them last season. A small child could’ve fallen through a few of them. I know it was reported but I’m not sure if repairs were made or not. 

[Liam McPoyle 1,863]

Then there's Saltville, which sits atop an extensive network of natural limestone caverns, salt mines, and gypsum mines. The entire area is prone to sinkholes, including one on Northwood's field during an actual game.  Opponents who can avoid getting swallowed up by the earth usually come away with a win.

[Plywood_King 518]

5 hours ago, SWVAgridiron said:

Fort Chiswell visitor bleachers… absolutely horrible. They’re wooden and I think I counted like 5+ holes in them last season. A small child could’ve fallen through a few of them. I know it was reported but I’m not sure if repairs were made or not. 

They are actually debuting a major renovation this year. Pictures look really good. Similar to Rural Retreat's stadium. Wood, but very up-to-date and far from rickety. 

[1inStripes 932]

Played our season opener at Hurley my sophomore year.  We were leading 18-14 with 1:44 left in the 3rd. Hurley ran a 4-4 stack at the time. 3rd and inches and coached caller for a QB sneak. Just as I split the guards the 2 MLB hit me and everything went pitch black but 8 orange dots. 
 

Turned out the cotton candy machine or popcorn machine blew the the breaker to the entire light system. A spotlight started shining shortly after from a House way above the field behind the bleachers.  Finished the game on Monday(Labor Day) at Honaker.  Hurley went on to the Region D2 finals losing to PV. We missed the playoffs going 3-7 but had we won we would have went in D1 and Hurley would have missed the playoffs to Honaker I believe. 

[gwloyal 192]

7 hours ago, Liam McPoyle said:

Then there's Saltville, which sits atop an extensive network of natural limestone caverns, salt mines, and gypsum mines. The entire area is prone to sinkholes, including one on Northwood's field during an actual game.  Opponents who can avoid getting swallowed up by the earth usually come away with a win.

I knew I wasn't going to be the first one here with a Saltville Sinkhole story

[gwloyal 192]

1 hour ago, Plywood_King said:

They are actually debuting a major renovation this year. Pictures look really good. Similar to Rural Retreat's stadium. Wood, but very up-to-date and far from rickety. 

Wythe Co School Board knockin the cover off the ball lately. We are finally getting new lights at Pendleton. About 15-20 years overdue. It's about to be lit...

Literally. 

[stu_bean 1,058]

17 hours ago, SWVAgridiron said:

Fort Chiswell visitor bleachers… absolutely horrible. They’re wooden and I think I counted like 5+ holes in them last season. A small child could’ve fallen through a few of them. I know it was reported but I’m not sure if repairs were made or not. 

Which also if you pack the visitor side, it's almost like you are sitting on the shoulders of the person in front of you.  It's tight.

[Mountain Football 1,532]

ImFromOutWest and I was just wondering if you've had any bathroom disasters out east? The bathrooms around here are disastrous to say the least. Mitchell being top on that list.

[JDHoss 249]

* Worst field conditions - 1995 state title game at Nandua HS between PV and Northampton. It snowed several inches, and then warmed into the 60s with a lot of rain and then turned cold. It's preposterous that a state championship game was played in that quagmire. IIRC, PV assistant Jimmy Mitchell lost one of his shoes in the mud and had to pull it out. I went to a local K-Mart before the game and bought a pair of rubber boots to wear. 

* Worst stadiums - Cardinal Newman HS in West Palm Beach. The visitors side might have held 50 people, and the stands were angled so badly that you had to be standing on the top row to be able to see over the visiting team's players on the sideline. Even then, you couldn't see much of the field. We moved down to the end zone fence, which was about 50 ft away from the back of the end zone and was over 5 ft tall with wrapping the you couldn't see through on the other side of it. The top of the fence came up to my chin and I'm slightly over 6'1. 

* Claiborne Co TN (old location). Small stands with both teams on one side. Terrible sightlines and I mostly just saw the backs of the Claiborne Co players on the sideline. 

 

[Gridiron60 2,555]

5 hours ago, Mountain Football said:

ImFromOutWest and I was just wondering if you've had any bathroom disasters out east? The bathrooms around here are disastrous to say the least. Mitchell being top on that list.

Mitchell is a lot better than they used to be. I‘m of the opinion west is best, period 😂😂. I know @Westisthebest would agree!