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High school football stadium in Perry County shuts down after 75 years

Community members say they were left in the dark of the stadium's financial problems.

CROOKSVILLE, Ohio — No varsity football player at Crooksville High School will ever be able to run on the field of its 75-year-old stadium again.

The Crooksville Exempted School District voted to build a new stadium after months of talks with the Village Council on possibly taking over the stadium or even paying to have the lighting problem at the stadium fixed.

Credit: Crooksville Exempted Village School District
Credit: The Village of Crooksville
First page of the letter from the Village of Crooksville
Credit: The Village of Crooksville
Page 2 of the letter from the Village of Crooksville

The problem with the stadium started years ago when the school district, the village and the athletic association knew the lighting poles at the stadium, which were place here in the late 1960s, were deteriorating.

Last winter, the stadium's lighting pole fell and left the stadium with no power.

But to understand how solving the power issue became complicated requires going back seven decades.

Crooksville Stadium may be the only high school stadium in Ohio that isn’t owned by the school district. The stadium land is owned by the village, but the maintenance is the sole responsibility of the athletic association. 

The association, which is made up of volunteers, agreed to a 99-year lease from the village for $1 in return for maintaining the stadium.

The school district pays a fee to the athletic association to use the field but has no legal authority to pay for any improvements. Neither does the village because neither of them own it.

“Over time the participants in the athletic association became fewer, as interested parents saw their children play through and move on. The state of volunteerism and participation has diminished," said Village Mayor Chris Mohler. "I commend the members and ones that were still trying, but COVID last year really hurt the revenue stream. No spectators, no concessions are just some examples of lost revenue for them."

According to superintendent Kevin Smith, the cost of providing temporary lighting to the stadium was discussed with the village. 

He told 10TV that it would cost $80,000 for one season. He said the cost to install all new permanent lighting was $275,000.

The village claimed it was working towards having a charitable donation help pay for permanent lighting, but the mayor said it never materialized. 

"A large electrical contracting company from Perrysburg, Ohio reached out Monday afternoon, pledged manpower to do the labor, if the school, village, and athletic association would meet with a representative of AEP to discuss a charitable donation of material needed to do the work,” Mohler explained.

It's not clear if AEP was made aware of this. The company told 10TV no one from its operation staff was contacted by someone from the village. 

The school district offered to buy the stadium, and the village appeared to be on board.

As the two were preparing to hammer out details, the district chose to build a stadium of its own on the location where its junior varsity football team plays and where its track is currently located.

“Our goal is for us to have a facility for them play on next year,” Smith said.

He says the new stadium will be built with grant money, not with a school levy.

Many in the community feel they were left in the dark about the financial issues facing the stadium and were surprised to learn there wasn’t time for them to raise money to try and correct the electrical issues.

“I feel why weren’t we told about this six months or a year ago,” said Chelsea Hurst, who created a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the stadium.

Hurst says 100% of the money she has already raised will go to the new stadium.

Mohler disagrees the community was in the dark.

“The one thing our community knows is the football program. The athletic association and the village renewed a lease for the exclusive use of the area of our park that is the football field in 2007/2008. It was a 99-year lease and they were to maintain and do all the necessary work to keep the field in shape. To obtain the funds necessary to redo the bleachers, and make improvements to the field. The school has or had up until last Thursday a lease with the athletic association to play games on that field. Many from the community, the association and the school were aware,” he said.

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