THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609250121
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT McCASKEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 61 lines
School spirit sometimes comes in the form of scrapers and paint brushes.
Last week a group of avid Indian River High School fans completed a monthlong volunteer effort to give the stadium a fresh coat of Braves' color.
``We go to all the football and basketball games and raise Cain and root our teams on,'' said C. Edward Clifton Jr., who organized the project. ``We decided last year after the football team won the state championship that the stadium needed a face lift.''
Clifton and four members of his family were joined by seven other Chesapeake residents who climbed ladders and wielded brushes. The other volunteers were Donnie Ewell, Randy B. Ives, Armando and Lin Macias, Richard E. Farmer, Samuel T. Hardy and Richard Howard.
``We're right proud of this,'' said Ewell, 53, looking up at the press box, shining with the school's shades of blue and white.
Ives, 43, is a 1971 Indian River graduate who played varsity football, wrestled and ran track.
``I hate to paint, but I love the teams,'' he said.
Several hundred hours of labor went into the project. Most of the materials were provided by the Chesapeake school system. Indian River Principal James L. Frye said the stadium had been painted a couple of years ago but needed some touching up. The group painted the press box, ticket booth, railings and the interior of the back walls. Frye estimates the job would have cost the school about $5,000.
``These guys have been committed to us for years,'' Frye said of the group. ``A lot of their kids have already graduated. I'm just amazed what they did.''
Although Clifton, 52, went to Great Bridge High School, two of his children and his daughter-in-law attended Indian River. His wife, Beth C. Clifton, his daughter, Carrie B. Clifton, son Charles W. Clifton, and daughter in-law Pamela L. Clifton all pitched in to show their support for the school.
``This is a way for us to say to the teams and school that we're proud of them,'' said Beth Clifton, 48. ``We're Braves fans, win or lose.''
Most of the group either attended Indian River or have children that have graduated or are still going there. Clifton, Ives, Ewell, Farmer and the Macias families all have daughters that were former or current cheerleaders. Hardy's son, Samuel T. Hardy Jr., caught the game-winning pass in last year's triple A, division 6 state football championship in Manassas. His other son, Shawn D. Hardy, plays on this year's team.
Ives said that everyone has a heavy dose of school spirit, but that Clifton and Ewell really went all out. While the rest of the volunteers painted around their work schedules, Clifton, a patrol officer for the Virginia Marine Resource Commission, and Ewell, an inspector for the Virginia Department of Transportation, took a week of their vacation time to help paint the stadium.
This isn't the first time, nor probably will be the last, that the group has done projects for the school. In 1995 they remodeled the snack bar in the basketball gymnasium.
``I guess we'll be touching up the stadium in the future,'' Ives said. ``We'll probably be doing this so long they'll eventually have to take us out in wheelchairs. We're die-hards, the ultimate fans.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SCOTT McCASKEY
Some of the voluteers who painted the stadium are, from left: Ed
Clifton, Randy B. Ives and his daughter Olivia K. Ives, Pamela L.
Clifton with her son Cameron and Donnie Ewell. by CNB