THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 2, 1995 TAG: 9505020406
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
The city of Norfolk hasn't built a football stadium for its five public high schools in modern times. So it would seem that a modest proposal to build 2,500-seat stadiums at Lake Taylor and Booker T. Washington wouldn't be controversial.
After all, 18 of the 20 other public high schools in South Hampton Roads have their own stadiums.
``It's something our high schools need,'' Mayor Paul Fraim said.
But officials with the Norfolk Youth Soccer League have asked the city to postpone building the Lake Taylor stadium. They have passed out petitions, are telephoning City Council members and plan to show up in force Wednesday for a public hearing on the city budget at Chrysler Hall.
They agree that the high schools need better facilities for football but say they they don't want it done at their expense. The Lake Taylor stadium would take away two of eight soccer fields they use for regular-season and tournament play, they say.
``We cannot operate without those fields,'' said Denise Edwards, president of the Norfolk Youth Soccer League. ``What I would like to see the City Council do is postpone its decision and meet with us.''
Fraim said he hopes to meet with Edwards and others before Wednesday's public hearing, and pledged Monday to make sure youth soccer doesn't lose fields.
Nonetheless, Fraim's phone rang off the hook Monday after more than 1,000 players and parents were handed letters this weekend by youth soccer officials asking them to call the mayor and object to the Lake Taylor stadium.
``I guess this is proof that no good deed goes unpunished,'' Fraim said with a laugh.
Fraim said the stadiums are needed because four schools - Maury, Granby, Lake Taylor and Booker T. - play all of their games at Norview and Harbor Park, when it is available.
Stanley Stein, director of parks and recreation, said the high school stadiums would cost $1 million apiece. Construction would not begin until the winter or spring of 1996.
The stadiums would have no frills - teams would use locker rooms in the school buildings - and would be built around tracks at both schools. The stadiums would have lights, scoreboards, concessions stands, press boxes, fences and ticket booths.
Why build stadiums when the city has proposed raising taxes?
``They would strengthen the athletic programs, would increase students' pride in the schools and would get more of them involved in school activities,'' Fraim said.
Booker T. athletic director Charles Harvin agrees.
``We believe a stadium would help revive this community and would do so much for our football program,'' he said. ``It's hard for your fans to follow you when you're playing home games away from campus.''
Lake Taylor athletic director Bert Harrell said he's been lobbying for a stadium since 1967, when the school opened.
``We were supposed to have a stadium when the school was built, but it was cut out at the last minute,'' he said. ``We still have the blueprints.
``We appreciate very much what is being done.''
However, he sounded a cautionary note.
``I would like to sit down with whoever is going to do this and look at what they've got planned,'' he said. ``If it's not going to be something Norfolk can be proud of having, I would rather opt to have a soccer/football complex in the city someplace else.''
By that he means a proposed complex, including an 8,000-seat stadium and seven adjoining soccer fields, that would serve as home for high school football, youth soccer and perhaps the Hampton Roads Mariners professional soccer team. A site for the stadium hasn't been selected, though Stein says it would cost at least $6 million.
Fraim said private investment likely would be needed if the soccer/football stadium is to be built. But more than a year after the complex was proposed, a fund-raising effort has not begun.
``The cost of the land made the football/soccer stadium a very long-range project,'' Fraim said. ``I think it will happen in the future. But there was some thought that if we could build smaller facilities on the school sites, that we could accomplish a lot of good now.
``These issues are separate. The high school stadiums will not affect that proposal. I think the case for the soccer facility can be made on its own without making high school football the issue.'' by CNB