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Volunteer Eric Hohol runs the time clock during a junior varsity game at the newly renovated Collins Field at Stoughton High School. The artificial turf allows for multiple field sports, including football, soccer and lacrosse.
The new Anderson Complex at Stoughton High School also includes accommodations for people with disabilities, a new press box and home-side concessions and bathrooms, in addition to the artificial turf installed at Collins Field. Most of the cost of $2.3 million cost was covered by donations.
“One of my favorite things is just walking onto it,” JV 2 outside linebacker Bryce Segerson said of the renovated Collins Field at Stoughton High School, which sports new artificial turf and the school’s logo and purple end zones with white lettering.
The renovated Collins Field at Stoughton High School includes accommodations for people with disabilities along with new amenities for sports fans and other users.
When Stoughton High School celebrates Homecoming with a football game this Friday, current and former students will have more reasons to cheer.
That’s because it will be one of the first games played at the new athletic complex, which started as a dream to replace the grass with artificial turf. The intention was a field that would accommodate more games, playoffs, a wider array of high school teams and other groups, and also be a place for community events such as movie nights and concerts.
But as excitement and donations grew, the project went beyond the field to the create accommodations for people with disabilities, a new press box and home-side concessions and bathrooms. In the process, most of the cost of the Anderson Complex, which rose a bit above the original $2.2 million figure to about $2.3 million, was raised through donations, said Erica Pickett, director of business services for the Stoughton School District. The School Board approved another $250,000, Pickett said.
“It means a lot to the community. One of the things that was so important to raising this money was to get the community involved,” said Steve Lyons, president of the Stoughton Sports Boosters Club.
Fittingly, two of the biggest donors are 1981 graduates of Stoughton High School. Not only did Keith and Tammy Anderson donate $1 million to the field, the Stoughton company they founded, Eldon Homes, also donated another $138,000.
“It is something we wanted to do and believed in,” Keith Anderson said. “Football, to me, shaped the foundation of my life.”
Stoughton Trailers, which has been in the community since 1961, donated a little more than $600,000.
“This is just another opportunity to make Stoughton a great place to live and raise a family,” said Bob Wahlin, president and CEO of Stoughton Trailers.
Wahlin attended Stoughton schools through eighth grade and then graduated from Edgewood High School. His son is a junior on the varsity football team at Stoughton High School, and two other children have graduated from there.
The dream started when Wahlin, whose Stoughton Trailers company has been supportive of community endeavors, reached out to Mel Dow, the former athletics and activities director, about what could be done to bring Collins Field at Stoughton in line with other surrounding communities.
Then, when the dream got bigger and funds didn’t look they were meeting the goal, the Andersons, who still have family in Stoughton, were contacted.
After a game last week, some JV 2 football players praised the new field. Ninth-grader Leonard Thomas, who plays wide receiver and quarterback, said he likes the cushioning. Bryce Segerson and Moses Harris, both ninth-graders and outside linebackers, said they liked the design of the field markings, which include the school’s logo and purple end zones with white lettering.
“One of my favorite things is just walking onto it,” Segerson said of the field.
An opposing player also was impressed as he left the field last week.
“It was a lot of fun to play on,” said ninth-grader Marty Hanna, a wide receiver from Sauk Prairie High School, who had seven catches. “It felt like I could run faster almost.”
Besides the big donors, the money came from donations as little as $5 and from all sorts of avenues, such as civic groups, school groups, businesses, youth groups and others from the community, including anonymous donors.
Andie Alexander, athletics and activities director, said many schools turn to referendums to fund such projects
“We are just very grateful we did this the way we did,” she said.
When the new press box was built, bathrooms and a concessions stand were built underneath. In the past, that side of the field used portable toilets, and the concession stand had no running water.
“We couldn’t make coffee, we couldn’t make hot chocolate, none of that,” Lyons said. “It’s more than a football field — it is about building the community.”
Already, the field was the site of a youth football game, and other events are being considered.
“It brings people into town,” Alexander said.
The facility will have a big impact on the school’s sports and activities. The artificial turf will allow for football, soccer, lacrosse and other field sports to be played on the field, as well use by marching bands and physical education classes, the hosting of tournaments, and other potential community events. In the past, some playoff games could not take place there because the field didn’t meet the requirements of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
In addition, the field required significant maintenance and at times was unplayable after rain. Jason Becker, head football coach at Stoughton, said he was impressed already by how the field was useable right after a recent rain.
“We’re excited to just get all of the youth programs up there,” he said.
The Andersons’ donation to the field has blossomed into even more. Keith Anderson, who retired three years ago as the senior vice president of operations of the third-largest homebuilder in America, NVR, said the start-up of Eldon Homes is a way to grow the Andersons’ hometown while living in Aldie, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.
“Stoughton just didn’t have a builder in town that could do mass volumes of building,” Anderson said. “I’m a firm believer that if you build it, they will come.”
Each Monday, the Wisconsin State Journal features a story about learning in Wisconsin. Here are School Spotlight stories from the past year.
Each Monday, the State Journal features a story about learning in Wisconsin. Send story ideas to Sandy Cullen at scullen@madison.com or 608-252-6137.
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Volunteer Eric Hohol runs the time clock during a junior varsity game at the newly renovated Collins Field at Stoughton High School. The artificial turf allows for multiple field sports, including football, soccer and lacrosse.
The new Anderson Complex at Stoughton High School also includes accommodations for people with disabilities, a new press box and home-side concessions and bathrooms, in addition to the artificial turf installed at Collins Field. Most of the cost of $2.3 million cost was covered by donations.
“One of my favorite things is just walking onto it,” JV 2 outside linebacker Bryce Segerson said of the renovated Collins Field at Stoughton High School, which sports new artificial turf and the school’s logo and purple end zones with white lettering.
The renovated Collins Field at Stoughton High School includes accommodations for people with disabilities along with new amenities for sports fans and other users.
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