ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 6, 1997 TAG: 9702060015
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ANGIE WATTS STAFF WRITER
When the high school football season kicks off next fall, the Blacksburg Indians will again call Bill Brown Stadium home. They will also, however, be bidding it a fond farewell.
Upcoming renovations to Blacksburg Middle School will include the land behind the school where the football stadium is. The Montgomery County School Board voted Nov. 19 to renovate the old school building instead of constructing a new building on a different site. The board insisted construction must disrupt education as little as possible and the stadium must be moved..
"Nobody is really happy about moving Bill Brown Stadium, but the School Board had a very difficult problem," member Wat Hopkins said. "Every vote made about Blacksburg Middle School has been a 5-4 vote and not always the same 5-4. Every conceivable possibility has been suggested."
Hopkins said he understands how hard accepting the move will be to the students and parents of Blacksburg High.
"My son started playing football in the eighth grade at Bill Brown Stadium, then he played in high school," Hopkins said. "People who have gone through football there love that stadium. It's not as big as Salem's or Pulaski's, but when I think of going to Bill Brown Stadium, my son playing football there is one of the happiest years of my life.
"It is a nice place to play football, but football is made up of people and the people will still be there at a new stadium."
Both the School Board and the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors have been searching for land on which to relocate the football facility. Once the two boards have agreed upon their top choices, the supervisors will negotiate to buy the land.
"[The board's] job is to approve the site," Hopkins said. "[The supervisors'] job is to buy it. Naturally, it's a slow process."
But for the boosters at the high school, there is more at issue than the relocation of the football field. Two years ago the boosters raised nearly $100,000 to build a concession and restroom facility at the end of the stadium nearest the middle school.
"It's unfortunate how things have transpired, but when we decided to build the facility we had no way of knowing the outcome," said Alfred Smith, principal of Blacksburg High. "We thought the middle school would be built on another site. We needed restroom facilities and we couldn't wait any longer. We've had two good season there so far and hopefully we'll get in one more ... so I don't think it's been a wasted effort."
Hopkins said it is likely the contractors will try to incorporate the building into the renovations, perhaps as a part of the physical education and heath section of the middle school.
"I would hope the building can be incorporated in the design, even if it has to chance its function," Smith said. "I guess the good thing that will happen is that our boosters have set a standard. This is the kind of facility we need and want at an athletic complex. I expect wherever they move us will have similar facilities."
Smith said he also hopes the new complex will retain the "Bill Brown" name. The stadium was named after Brown, who at one time or another coached almost every sport Blacksburg High offered, to show appreciation for the numerous contributions he made to the education and athletic development of area youth.
"I was sitting in the press box last year and Bill Brown's daughter was there with him," Smith said. "We were talking about the memorial and his daughter said, 'What are we going to do with that if they build a middle school on it?' Bill just smiled and said, 'You could just bury me right there, use that as the headstone and put the school right on it.'
"He's taking this all very well. I don't think it will bother Bill if his name moves to a stadium where he never coached," Smith added. "The field ran the other way when Bill did his coaching on it anyway."
Although no official sites have been named at this time, both the boards and the athletic department at Blacksburg High are eager for decisions to be made.
"I'd be happy if by the time football season opened we had a site and construction going on at the new stadium," Hopkins said. "That would be a good sign."
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. Both the School Board and theby CNBMontgomery County Board of Supervisors have been searching for land
on which to relocate Bill Brown Stadium.