North Jefferson News, Gardendale, AL

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  • Bragg Middle School football players file out of the school’s new field house on the way to football practice. The fieldhouse was purchased with money from both the city of Gardendale and the Jefferson County Board of Education.

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September 1, 2010

Bragg gets new field house

Players changed in boxcar before

By Ben Montgomery The North Jefferson News

GARDENDALE — Bragg Middle School football players recently began using the school’s new field house.

“I love it. We’ve never had anything like this at Bragg,” said head football coach Larry White. “Just to have something we can call our own is a great feeling.”

Before Bragg got the new field house, student athletes were dressing in little more than a modified boxcar without electricity or running water.

“I wish we had a photo of it just so you could see how much better the new facility is,” said Bragg Principal Jeff Caufield.

Caufield and White said this season is seeing more participation than ever, with at least 120 student athletes participating in the football program alone.

“We had 80 kids last year, and you can imagine what it was like trying to get them in and out of a boxcar,” said Caufield.

He said getting the field house built was a joint effort between himself, Jefferson County Board of Education member Karen Nix, Board of Education Superintendent Dr. Phil Hammonds, former Gardendale Mayor Kenny Clemons and current Mayor Othell Phillips. The field house was paid for by the Board of Education at a cost of $451,000. The city donated around $300,000 to the Board of Education several years ago, and part of that money was used to construct the field house.

“It all began when Gardendale High School was being built, and it got its new field house,” said Caufield. “That’s when we started working toward getting a better facility. We didn’t necessarily have a field house in mind at the time.”

Caufield called county inspectors out to take a look at the boxcar.

“They said it was the worst facility they’d ever seen,” he said. When funding was put in place for the new facility, the boxcar was finally hauled away and the players began changing in a modified portable classroom that had utilities.

The field house was completed last month. Although budget cuts forced the coaches to do without an office and the school will have to wait to install some additional lockers (which is the athletic boosters club’s next project), White said the field house is meeting the needs of the student athletes very well.

“It’s really built some excitement,” he said.

Caufield said the field house is meant to be a multipurpose facility that will serve any sport. He said athletics, like all extracurricular activities, are a necessary part of a student’s education.

“It’s very important for students to be involved beyond the eight-to-three classroom time,” said Caufield.

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