Club, volunteers pour pad for bleachers

By Nancy Spencer, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Friday, July 3, 2009 (8 months, 2 weeks ago)
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DELPHOS — The Delphos Stadium Club and numerous volunteers have nearly completed Phase I of the stadium renovation at Stadium Park.
Drainage and irrigation systems have been installed on the new football field and the sod is growing in nicely.
Due to the current economy, plans to complete the renovations will likely be pushed beyond 2010 as originally planned and some improvisation has become necessary. The club recently purchased seating for 1,900, bathroom fixtures, lockers, outdoor lighting and drinking fountains at an auction in Fort Wayne at the former site of the Fort Wayne Wizards games.
“The first plan to build new seating where visitors sit currently was quite costly and when we learned of the auction at the old Memorial Stadium in Fort Wayne, we didn’t feel we could pass up the opportunity. The seating we acquired is at about 30 percent of what it would have cost us to build a structure with a concession stand,” Stadium Club President John Nomina said this morning.
Nomina said getting the bleachers and other items home was not as hard as it might seem.
“We have just had a tremendous volunteer group behind us. After we purchased the auction items, we had to remove them quite quickly. Truckers from Ulms, B & K Trucking, AA Trailer Sales, RODOC, Tom Neumeier and Crop Production Services came over to Fort Wayne and helped dismantle, load, move the items back to Delphos and unload them over several weekends,” Stadium Club member Gary Mack said.
Workers were at Stadium Park at 6:30 a.m. today to pour and smooth the 180 yards of concreted pad the bleachers will sit on as well as sidewalk for access to them. Again, volunteers came out in force.
K & L Ready Mix and National Lime and Stone have discounted product for the project.
“This is moving along very quickly,” Nomina said. “We will likely finish pouring today and do any extra work tomorrow. We will start placing the bleachers next week.”
The seating will span approximately 67 yards from the 17-yard line on either end of the football field.
The lockers were also being installed in the former Delphos Wastewater Treatment Plant, which the city has agreed to allow the club to turn into a visitors’ locker room.
“This solution is more economical than new construction and it will be ready for the fall football season,” Nomina said.
Items to be completed this summer also include artificial turf on both sidelines and finish work on the visitors’ locker room.
Nomina said the home stands will be addressed next year. The structure is sound but some steel needs blasted and painted for preservation.

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