In the Spring of 1997, WVU announced that it was undertaking a major upgrade to several of its athletic facilities. It planned to spend in excess of $10 million dollars with the bulk going for the construction of the new indoor football facility shown at right. The facility would also be used by the baseball team as well as men's and women's soccer.
While the indoor facility made up the bulk of the expense, other athletic facilities were to be upgraded as well.
. Mountaineer Field would have it's old synthetic playing surface replaced with new Astro Turf 2000 (shown left), that same surface would also be installed in the new indoor practice building, lights would be added to Hawley Field (baseball) and a new soccer field was to be constructed. Construction started in the spring of 1997 and all was to be completed by the fall of 1998.
A Year Later
All projects are completed, in fact everything but the new indoor practice building was used during the 1997 seasons. As for the practice building, now being "unofficial" called the "Don Dome", the keys were turned over to the WVU Athletic Department August 1, 1998. As of the week before the Ohio State game there had been no practices inside it, however it was used for Media Day which was held the same day the Pittsburgh Steelers were in town getting ready to use Mountaineer Field for an exhibition game. The major use of the building will be in the winter and early spring months....when we're getting ready for that January 1 bowl game!
The Pride Of West Virginia
In 1997 the Mountaineer Marching Band received the coveted Sudler Trophy during halftime ceremonies of the Homecoming Game against Rutgers last October 4. We've know for years that this was a great band and it was great to see them receive national recognition.
The Pride performed at the halftime show of the Steeler's exhibition game in August and was simply fantastic. This year's band is the largest ever, showing a membership of over 380 members!
Great news for fans in the Wheeling area. The Pride of West Virginia will be the lead band at the Festival Of Lights parade this fall. Folks, if you think this band sounds great at Mountaineer Field you can just imagine what they sound like coming up the street with their "sounds" echoing back and forth between the tall downtown buildings. This is a MUST SEE event if you live in northern West Virginia!
We Miss You Jack
The golden era of WVU athletic broadcasts came to an end last July 30 when the school announced Jack Fleming's 47-year career as "Voice of the Mountaineers" was ending and he would be replaced by Tony Caridi. Flemming had suffered a series of small strokes a year earlier after broadcasting the first two football games and was forced to take a leave of absence.
We're pleased to pass along that Jack's health is fine. He does a weekly column at the MSN Sportsnet site and can be reached by EMail at jammin@msnsportsnet.com.
Tony Caridi has done an excellent job as the play-by-play announcer but is wise in saying he "never intends to replace Jack". You simply must start a new era as phrases like "How about that", "Go Willie Go", and "the hills of West Virginia are alive with the sounds of Mountaineer Football" will live on in our minds. Best of luck Tony, and Jack....thanks for the memories!
© Copyright 1998 Jay Paulovicks
This page is maintained by Jay Paulovicks ( jayp@jayp.net )