Newark football will have its lights

Donor, school district help save night games

By MIKE FINNEY, The News Journal

Posted Tuesday, August 14, 2007

NEWARK -- Following a summer of uncertainty, Newark High's coaches, athletes and supporters are breathing a collective sigh of relief -- there likely will be night football at Hoffman Stadium this fall.

A donor who requested to remain anonymous has agreed to front the money for Newark's stadium project, which includes replacing its 20-year-old lighting system, in addition to other improvements.

So, the Yellowjackets plan to kick off their home season Saturday, Sept. 15, against Concord at 7 p.m.

"We've been fortunate in that a gracious anonymous Newark football supporter stepped forward and has underwritten the project for the lights," said David Dworsky, who has spearheaded the lighting project.

"We certainly have to pay that loan back, and we will have significant events throughout the end of summer and during the season ... to raise funds and repay the debt."

Dworsky, vice president of card services at Bank of America, knows a little bit about Newark football. He started at quarterback for the Yellowjackets in 1980.

"The way the process went was, the [Christina] School District offered to take care of the existing poles that were there," Dworsky said. "They came out and actually fixed [the lights] that were there, so they're actually working right now.

"We'll be able to transition to the new lighting system by the end of the first week of September, depending on the weather, of course."

The Newark High School Stadium Fund is trying to raise $100,000 to cover the entire project, which includes the new lights and maintenance work on the stadium.

A total of $27,000 has been raised to date, including a $5,000 donation from San Francisco 49ers lineman Kwame Harris -- a Newark graduate -- and a matching donation from the NFL.

The next major fundraiser for the NHS Stadium Fund is scheduled Aug. 31, when the Yellowjackets will play host to St. Elizabeth in a preseason football scrimmage at Hoffman Stadium starting at 7 p.m.

The band will put on a field show, the soccer team will have an exhibition, and there will be numerous fundraising tents set up and games for children that will take place on an adjacent soccer field that night.

The Christina School District condemned the lighting system at Hoffman Stadium this summer after sporadic outages at games last season left district officials concerned about crowd safety.

Since then, it has been an often-bumpy road for Newark to ensure that its football team, and boys and girls soccer and boys and girls lacrosse teams, would be able to play night home games.

Newark football coach Butch Simpson admitted the episode was frustrating at times.

"The situation is that we contracted initially with a company to provide the equipment and then there were some problems with finalizing that contract, and we had to step back from that plan and start all over again," Simpson said.

"But through the entire process, the folks behind this that have been so diligent and friends to the Newark community feel strongly that they're going to get it done."

Simpson might not completely believe it until he runs onto the field with his Yellowjackets on Sept. 15.

Dworsky certainly believes it will happen, and maybe not just at Newark High.

"This has formed into a really neat campaign," Dworsky said. "It started as a lighting fund with numbers that ranged between $70,000 to $180,000.

"This is a real model that could be developed overall. These are the kinds of problems that nearly all public school systems are facing."

Contact Mike Finney at 734-7945 or mfinney@delawareonline.com

Small donations could save tradition

By MARTY VALANIA

Thursday, July 5, 2007 11:53 AM EDT

Seventy bucks a person - that's all it will take.

As the Hoffman Stadium scoreboard clock ticked toward zero, the time I most looked forward to quickly approached.

It was just one of a myriad of Friday nights I spent covering football games at Newark High. It was almost halftime and the Yellowjackets were more than likely pounding some poor team into submission (when you're winning seven state championships in eight years, blowouts tend to happen quite often).

My son was pretty young at the time and he sometimes accompanied me to games. He'd hang out on the steps of the locker room (the Hive) behind the one end zone - out of harms way - while I roamed the sidelines making notes on each play.

But now it was our turn. The team would head up the steps into the locker room for halftime and he'd head down the steps and out onto the field. It was time for our regular 15-minute game of catch.

I'd throw him passes and he'd run them down in between the end zone and the Hive. If he got brave, he'd sneak a pattern out into the corner of the end zone and pretend to score.

It's a routine I'll remember fondly forever.

70 bucks. Is it worth it? You better believe it.

There was another time when my brother - a part-time coach for the Jackets for years - had been in the hospital in pretty serious condition. He had just been released and was still weak and not in good shape, but it was Friday night and he insisted on going to the game. He too watched from a chair just inside the Hive. Just being there and having the interaction with the other coaches and players, and the buzz that comes with the Friday night atmosphere buoyed his spirits tremendously.

70 bucks.

I didn't go to Newark High so I don't have any real playing memories. But there are hundreds and hundreds of players out there that do. I imagine they have some of the best memories of their lives from Friday nights under the lights.

Friday night football, though, is about more than just football.

Friday nights at Hoffman Stadium are about family and community as well. It's where you come with your closest friends and family members and it's where you run into people that you haven't seen in awhile and probably only see at football games, anyway.

It's getting to the parking lot an hour and a half early (otherwise who knows where you'd end up parking) and seeing people tailgating. It's the pre-game dinner of a hot dog and popcorn from the concession stand. It's saying hi to 50 people you know before you get 50 feet inside the gate.

70 bucks. It's really not that much.

We all found out in the last week that this Friday night tradition is in jeopardy. The old lights have been condemned by the Christina School District. They have to be renovated or new ones have to be purchased and installed or Friday nights will turn into Saturday afternoons.

No, the world won't come to an end and yes, the Christina School District surely has more to worry about. But Saturday afternoons aren't Friday nights.

I certainly don't advocate looking to the district at this time for any kind of help. However, there are hundreds - if not thousands - of us that have had great memories and great experiences at Hoffman Stadium. Maybe we all can help.

And I've only talked about the football aspect, but the boys and girls soccer teams play home night games there as well. The Newark High Band is a big part of Friday night games. Maybe there are band members that have good memories.

It's going to cost $185,000 for new lights or $69,000 to bring the current lights up to standard. I say we concentrate on the $69,000.

It would be nice if somebody would come along and just pay for the whole thing - but I'm afraid we might lose a season waiting for that to happen. However, I think the money can be raised.

If there are just 1,000 people out there that have had a good enough time to warrant pledging $70 to help the situation, then the lights can be saved and Friday night football can be saved. Make your checks payable to the Newark High Football Boosters and mail them to Butch Simpson, 105 Cullen Way, Newark, DE 19711.

70 bucks. I'm writing mine now.