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What’s in a name? A look at the names and history behind area fields and stadiums · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: What's in a Name? A look at the names and
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  history behind area fields and stadiums. Written by Kevin Hieronymus.
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  This article is being read by an automated voice brought
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  to you by Everlett. Sports Fans walk in to area
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  gym's and fields and see names like Bryant, Proudy, Nesty, Howard, Fellows, Popsdale, Kingman, Lancaster,
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  and Musgrove on the walls and read about them in
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  newspaper stories. Just who are these namesakes on the wall?
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  Dang The first installment in a two part series looks
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  at the story and history behind those names of area
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  fields and stadiums. The second part we'll look at the
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  namesakes of area gymnasiums and tracks. Bryant Field, Princeton, The
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  Tigers football field is named after John H. Howard Bryant,
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  a distinguished early settler in Princeton and brother to the
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  poet William Cullen Bryant. The Tigers moved into Bryant Field
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  during the nineteen thirty season, previously playing at Crosstown Alexander Park.
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  The Bryant Field dedication was held on November eleventh, nineteen thirty.
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  According to the Bureau County Tribune, keynote speaker, Major Reed Landis,
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  World War Ace and son of Judge Landis of baseball
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  and judicial fame, declared that he had never seen a
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  more splendid location or more complete equipment in a high school.
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  The Tigers marked the occasion by defeating Geneseo fourteen seven.
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  Prather Field, Princeton, the land for the Tigers baseball field,
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  including the tennis courts and track throws area, and former
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  football practice field, was sold to the school by Jim
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  and Murty Prather family in May of nineteen sixty three.
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  Their son, Dallas, was a phs grad and World War
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  II hero killed in action, recognized for his heroic actions.
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  Ken Jenkins Field, Granville, the Putnam County High School baseball field,
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  is named after its former Hall of Fame coach. Ken
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  Jenkins was the PC coach from nineteen seven nine two
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  thousand eight, leading the Panthers to a one to third
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  place finish at state. He finished with a five hundred
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  and seventeen three hundred and thirty six record, including seven
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  regional titles and three sectional titles, leading PC teams to
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  state in nineteen eighty two, nineteen ninety eight four in
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  two thousand eight, third Borkinfield Manlius. The football field at
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  the former Manlius High School site now used for the
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  Bureau Valley JFL, was dedicated in nineteen ninety for longtime
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  Manlius coach Ken Borkin, who won one seventy five games
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  in thirty three years. He was recognized for his leadership
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  and dedication that inspired many student athletes. Richard Nesty Stadium, Hall.
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  Richard Nesti, a native of Madna, Italy, returned to Hall,
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  his alma mater, to coach in nineteen twenty eight. He
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  put Red Devil football on the map, winning eight conference championships,
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  the nineteen thirty one state championship, and compiling a two
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  hundred eleven forty four nine record. The Hall Stadium, which
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  was built in the early nineteen thirties, was named in
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  his honour in nineteen seventy nine. Kirby Park fully Field,
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  Spring Valley. Kirby Park is named after doctor George Kirby,
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  a Spring Valley surgeon who spearheaded the community drive to
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  raise funds for the park's creation in nineteen forty. Fully Field,
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  the baseball home of the Hall Red Devils at Kirby Park,
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  is named after a prominent local family Archie Folly and
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  his son, doctor Lewis c Fully in nineteen fifty seven,
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  Hall grad with long standing ties to Spring Valley and
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  the medical community at the former Saint Margaret's Hospital. Abbot
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  Davy OSB Softball Field, Saint Bede. The naming and dedication
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  of Abbot Phillip Davy OSB Field at Saint Bede was
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  held on twenty twenty two. Homecoming Day. Softball is in
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  Davy's blood, having been head coach for the program for
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  parts of five decades. He took the Bruins to the
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  Class A Sweet sixteen in two thousand and six. He
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  was elected the eighth Abbot of the monastery on June seventh,
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  twenty eleven. He attended Saint Bete Academy and Junior College
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  and is a member of the class of nineteen sixty five. Kingfield, Ottawa,
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  Ottawa's football field is one of the oldest high school
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  football fields in the state, named in honor of Solomon King,
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  who bequeathed fifty thousand dollars to build Ottawa's main building,
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  which opened in nineteen sixteen. The initial game at King
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  Field was on October two, nineteen fifteen, while the main
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  building was still under construction. June Gross Field, Ottawa Marquette's
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  softball field at Ottawa's Lincoln Douglas Park, was named after
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  June Gross. Prior to his retirement from Ottawa Township High
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  School in nineteen ninety, he was involved with the creation
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  of the Ottawa City Recreation softball program in the nineteen fifties,
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  which he was associated with for nearly fifty years. He
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  was a baseball and softball umpire and a basketball referee
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  for many years, in addition to coaching football, basketball, baseball,
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  and track at O. E. Tis John Massinelli Field, Ottawa.
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  Ottawa Marquette's baseball field is named after the Ottawa American
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  Legion coach of the nineteen nineteen sixty to eighties. He
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  was a City of Ottawa police officer. Doug Deakins Stadium
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  Streator the Streeter Football Field, was named in September twenty
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  twenty two after the legendary Bulldog who graduated in nineteen
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  sixty seven as a two time All Stater and went
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  on to NFL fame along the way. He was a
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  two time MVP for Illinois and named to the Ellini's
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  All Century Team. Played fourteen seasons for the Cleveland Browns,
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  setting an NFL record for consecutive starts by a tackle.
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  Upon retirement, he was a radio analyst for the Browns
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  for thirty four years. Howard Fellows Stadium LP, The dedication
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  of the LP football stadium was held on October twenty second,
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  nineteen seventy six. Named in honor of the longtime LaSalle
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  Peru coach. Howard Fellows was a LP coach, mathematics teacher,
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  and athletic director who was on staff from nine thirteen
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  to fifty nine. He coached basketball, football, track and field
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  swimming in tennis. He was appointed athletic director in nineteen
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  twenty eight and served in that role until nineteen fifty nine.
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  Upon retirement, Fellows said, it has been worthwhile God has
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  been good to me. Hube Sarverfield LP, the Cavaliers new
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  baseball field at the LP Sports Complex, was named in
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  the fall of twenty twenty three after its former longtime
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  baseball coach, Hubert Hubie Sarver. He coached the Cavs for
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  twenty six years, compiling a four thirty one, two hundred
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  and forty four record. Sarver also coached basketball for twelve
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  years and football for two years. Ja Hapfield, Peru, the
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  senior league diamond at Washington Park in Peru, was named
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  in twenty twenty three after native son JAA. Happ, who
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  launched a fifteen year Big League career there. The Saint
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  Beatleum broke in with the Phillies in two thousand and
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  eight and ended his career with the Cardinals in twenty
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  twenty one, pitching for eight teams along the way. Jeff
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  Preusader Athletic Complex Mendota retired Mendota Superintendent Jeff Crusader was
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  the driving force behind the athletic complex at Mendota High School,
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  which was named in his honor in June twenty twenty four.
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  Prusader was an administrator at Mendota from nineteen ninety six
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  until his retirement after the twenty twenty two to twenty
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  three school year, serving his last nineteen years as the
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  school's superintendent. The soccer field, which is now a practice field,
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  was first used in two thousand and four. The tennis
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  courts in baseball and softball fields opened in twenty ten,
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  and the football stadium and track was completed in twenty eleven.
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  Donier Field Mendota, the youth football field in Mendota, formerly
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  the home of the high school team, is named after
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  former Mendota High School principal and basketball coach Lloyd Donier A. C.
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  Bauers Field Dixon. In a surprise to him halftime announcement,
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  Dixon High School's athletic field was renamed after newly retired
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  athletic director A. C. Bauers on October eighteenth, nineteen sixty four. A.
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  Bauers was a teacher and coach at Dixon from nineteen
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  twenty one to sixty sixty three and the first ad
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  and coach to use the school's new athletic field. A
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  former student by the name of Ronald Reagan credited Bauers
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  with having a profound influence on him during his teenage
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  years and when he became president. Hinders Field Rock Falls.
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  One of the great men associated with Rocket Athletics. Lloyd
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  Hinders was a coach, teacher, and athletic director during his
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  twenty years at RFHS. He was the athletic director at
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  RFHS from nineteen fifty three to sixty three and coach
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  football and track from nineteen fifty three to forty five
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  and basketball from nineteen forty three to fifty one. His
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  nineteen forty seven Rockets basketball team was twenty foot one,
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  losing only in the sectional final. As a tribute to
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  coach Hinders, who passed away in nineteen sixty three at
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  the age of fifty two, the rock Falls foot fotball
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  field was renamed Hinders Memorial Field. Coach Larry Eberra Field Newman,
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  the Comets baseball field was dedicated to the comets former
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  longtime coach in twenty twenty two. Eberra, a nineteen sixty
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  nine Newman grad and standout player, was instrumental in building
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  the Newman field where it sits today. Roscoe Edes Stadium, Sterling.
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  Roscoe Edes Stadium was dedicated in nineteen seventy one in
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  honor of Roscoe EDI's forty years at Sterling High School
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  as teacher, coach, principal and superintendent. He came to Sterling
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  in nineteen twenty one. Known as Rocky by the students,
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  Edies was principled during the building of the football field
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  and the stadium that was named after him, and the
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  building and opening of the current Sterling High School in
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  nineteen fifty. The Sterling School Board has approved a renovation
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  project for the iconic nineteen thirty eight stadium,