A heavy downpour Thursday afternoon didn’t stop a big crowd from gathering for a ribbon-cutting to unveil Larkin High School’s first outdoor sports stadium in the 64-year history of the campus on Elgin’s west side.
“The [football] homecoming game is Friday, and it’s a game they can finally play on their own field,” School District U-46 Superintendent Suzanne Johnson said.
Larkin’s soccer and football teams have been playing at Memorial Field on the campus of crosstown rival Elgin High School. Now all five U-46 high schools will have “home-field advantage,” school board Vice President Chanda Schwartz said.
The $15.1 million project broke ground in February and was funded through the district’s capital budget. Features include an artificial turf field, track, lights, locker rooms, concession stand, seating for more than 2,000 and a pavilion under which the ribbon-cutting took place.
“It’s fit for royalty — the Larkin Royals, that is,” U-46 Assistant Superintendent of Operations Sheila Downs said.
Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain said having the stadium was extra special for Elgin and might be something other high schools want to emulate.
“Games will be lost and won here and soon forgotten, but the memories created will last forever,” Kaptain said.
State Sen. Cristina Castro, D-Elgin, recalled that she graduated from Larkin 30 years ago and was elated that the team would no longer have to go to the “enemy’s field” (Elgin) to play home games. Of the weather, she said, “Rain is a blessing, so we’re all being blessed — a little too much today.”
State Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, paid tribute to the Larkin cheerleaders for patiently standing outside the pavilion in the rain waiting to play their role in the celebration. The cheerleaders stood behind Principal Jason Misicka and starting quarterback, junior Brian Watson, when the two took their turns at the podium.
Misicka said he was looking forward to Friday, for fans to “fill the stands, make some noise and create some memories.”
“Being the first to play here is something we’ll never forget,” Watson said.
Friday would see Larkin’s boys soccer take on Geneva High School at 4:30 p.m., followed by a varsity football game between the Royals and the Sabres of Streamwood High School at 7:15 p.m.
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After the ribbon-cutting Thursday, Misicka noted that the games would be the first time the teams actually set foot on the new field.
While mingling with other well-wishers, Larkin alum and former football player Al Green showed off a letter he saved from Larkin’s first athletic director and football coach, Ray Haley, that Haley had sent in December 1969 to his players. The team that year went 8-1 and won the Upstate 8 Conference championship.
“A lesson can be learned from your experience this year,” Haley wrote. “Anything worth doing is worth doing to the best of your ability.”
Ray Haley Field is the name given to the focal point of what’s officially being called the Royals Athletic Complex. As such, Green said he was there to pay tribute to Haley and his family, and to his father, Paul Green, who was a principal at Larkin for 14 years.
Haley’s daughters Jennifer Haley, Jane Duffy and Kris Buda were appreciative guests at the ribbon-cutting.
“This means so much to us. My father was all about building a culture and climate of pride. This is a testimony to his legacy,” Jennifer Haley said.
Happy to see the sisters was former football player Carl Taillon, who took time off from his job with Safety-Kleen in Indiana to be at the festivities Thursday and Friday. Taillon said he played on the 1990 Royals team, the last one Haley coached.
Taillon said the Haley family had already given him old team videos, which have been digitized and downloaded to YouTube. At the game Friday, he hoped to get former players from across eras to sign a helmet Taillon kept from a high school all-star game in which he had played.
“Coach Haley taught us a lot about teamwork and character — and that hard work pays off,” Taillon said.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Elgin Courier-News.