WHAT'S IN A STADIUM NAME?

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Oct 18, 2004 | by DANNY SUMMERS THE GAZETTE

A multitude of people have shaped the sports landscape in the Colorado Springs area. They include coaches, players, administrators and game-day workers.

Some have had stadiums named in their honor or memory. One of the most recognizable is Garry Berry Stadium, near Wasson High School. But it wasn't until six years after his retirement as District 11 athletic director that the stadium was named in his honor. It had been in place for nearly 20 years.

Folks in Limon decided that their field should be named after the school's most famous coach and the most successful football coach in state history. So in 1968, almost 50 years after it was built, the stadium was named in honor of Lloyd Gaskill.

District 20 Football Stadium is in its second home. Until the early 1990s, Air Academy, Liberty and Rampart shared a site on the Air Academy campus known as District 20 Football Stadium.

A new stadium was constructed on Liberty's campus in 1991 and named District 20 Football Stadium.

The old football stadium went unused until it was renovated three years ago and renamed District 20 Soccer Stadium.

"I don't really see a reason to name District 20 Football Stadium after anybody," Liberty athletic director Jim Chapman said. "My thought is that it should be as generic as possible. Maybe if we had another facility in the district then we should probably come up with something to differentiate between the two."

There are 38 high schools that play football in The Gazette's coverage area. Those schools play at various home sites.

Here is a look at the stadiums and the story behind each one:

AIR ACADEMY

According to Air Academy coach Brian Sherman, a 1978 graduate of the school, the on-campus stadium has been known as the K-Dome dating back to 1958, when the school was built. It has never officially been the K-Dome. In 2001, it became District 20 Soccer Stadium.

CALHAN

Harlan V. Sprock Stadium

Harlan V. Sprock was a student at Calhan in the mid-1960s. The night of his junior prom in 1964, Sprock suffered a brain aneurysm and died. Sprock's parents, Paul and Velma, donated money from their son's insurance policy to start a football program at Calhan. The program started in 1965, and the stadium was dedicated shortly thereafter in Harlan's name. Harlan's twin, Harvey, graduated from Calhan in 1965.

CAON CITY

Citizen's Stadium

According to newspaper accounts, the stadium got its name because of the many townspeople who gave their time, money, equipment and loyalty to see that the stadium was completed. The first game was played in 1966.

CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN

The stadium was built in the 1960s and has no name.

COLORADO SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF AND THE BLIND, HILLTOP BAPTIST

Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind Athletic Field

Both schools play their home games at the site by Pikes Peak Avenue across from CSDB.

CORONADO, DOHERTY,

MITCHELL, PALMER, WASSON

Garry Berry Stadium

Garry Berry was the first District 11 athletic director beginning in 1946. He remained in his post through 1972. Berry also coached tennis at Colorado Springs High School (now Palmer). District 11 Stadium opened in the fall of 1959. In 1978, the name was changed to Garry Berry Stadium. Berry died in 1988.

CRIPPLE CREEK-VICTOR

Dial Field

"Speed" Dial was a prominent member of the business community in Cripple Creek and donated the land for the field in the early 1970s.

ELBERT

Elbert plays its games at Elbert Sports Complex.

ELLICOTT

Ellicott plays its games at Ellicott Middle School.

FALCON

The first game in the stadium was played in 2001. It has not been named.

FLORENCE

Palmer Field

Built in the early 1920s, Palmer Field was named in honor of General William Palmer. Palmer, a civil war hero, arrived in the Colorado Springs area in 1867 at the base of Pikes Peak to establish a resort for English gentility.

Palmer was an army general at 29, a railroad tycoon at 32 and Colorado Springs city founder at 35. In 1906, Palmer was thrown from his horse while riding in Garden of the Gods and was paralyzed from the neck down.

He died in 1909 at age 72. According to legend, Palmer Field once was the site of boxing matches, although Jack Dempsey's famous fight in the city took place downtown.

FOUNTAIN-FORT CARSON

Guy R. Barickman Stadium

Barickman was an assistant football and track coach at the school in the 1970s. He was a one-time head coach at Cheyenne Mountain. A former football player at the University of Missouri, Barickman was a big man (6-foot-2, 350 pounds) and was nicknamed "The Bear." The stadium was built in 1989, but Barickman died earlier that year and did not see its completion.

HARRISON, SIERRA

Veteran's Memorial Stadium

Harrison opened in 1967, but the stadium was not built until 1971. It was named Veteran's Memorial Stadium in 1972 and dedicated to prisoners of war and those missing in action in the Vietnam War.

KIOWA

Kiowa High School Football Stadium

The stadium was constructed in the late 1980s.

LEWIS-PALMER

Don Breese Stadium

Don Breese was the principal of Lewis-Palmer from 1963-89. The stadium was built in 1980 and dedicated in Breese's honor in 1989. Today, Breese lives in New Mexico.