GREENVILLE—Work began Monday morning on the Greenville football stadium following the destruction caused by the tornado that devastated Greenville City Park, the Greenville Union Cemetery, and Greenville City Schools’ football stadium, and tennis courts.
“It’s the boots on the ground start of it,” said Greenville athletic director Aaron Shaffer. “The start was back a day or two after the tornado, trying to work through all of the administrative side of it, but we are finally at a point where things are happening.”
“This morning (Monday), we have action going on at the stadium with turf removal,” Shaffer continued. “We have a semi here dropping off the new turf. It’s going to get busy out here quickly. Light poles will be showing up soon and there’s a lot of work that has to go on. We’re hopeful for early September with a backup plan being the Jennings Center.”
Shaffer quickly credited longtime Greenville Superintendent Doug Fries and his staff for guiding the venture through the difficult hurdles of such a project.
“The work Mr. Fries, Mrs. Jurosic, Jody Harter, and all the people we worked with, it’s been an amazing thing to watch it – it’s been super frustrating with some of the delays we’ve had, but what we are seeing now is the fruits of that labor,” Shaffer stated. “We are finally seeing the people on the ground; things will start happening.”
“Right now, we will be at the mercy of contractors and weather. We have our fingers crossed that there are no delays with what we’re doing.”
“If we’re not in on time by that first home football game, it won’t be for lack of effort,” Shaffer added. “In the meantime, we’ll paint lines out at the Jennings Center.”
Coach Shaffer, as AD, has stepped up to the challenge of rebuilding along with the entire Greenville City School administration, school board, and staff. Shaffer has had a lot added to his plate with the additional load placed on him by the damage to the football stadium and tennis courts.
“It’s been a lot – I would be lying if I said it wasn’t,” said Shaffer. “It is extra, and it’s during a time when typically it’s a little slower, and you can work on getting ahead of the next year. There were certain aspects of what I typically do in the summertime I couldn’t do because there were uncertainties, so we’re kind of chasing that now.”
“Organizing schedules has been challenging; we intentionally tried to stay away from a lot of early contests with the hopes that we could get back into the stadium and onto the turf, which is still up in the air, but it’s been a lot, the hours, the time, the stress that you put on it.”
“For many people this is where we grew up, we’re proud of what we have. Our old stadium is not the nicest thing in the world, but it is ours, and it’s where we play. It’s what we do.”
“Trying to figure out how to make it happen was a lot, and it was stressful for everybody involved because it is a layer of work that is typically not on your plate, but it’s what we do. As athletic director, this has been a big project, to say the least.”
“It’s going to be crazy for the next month or so as we try to get it done,” Shaffer concluded, “but now it’s pretty much in our contractor’s hands.”
