BY JAMES COOK
Editor's Note: The entire top 10 sports stories series can be read at record-eagle.com/top10sports.
TRAVERSE CITY -- It took more than a decade, but Thirlby Field is slated to get its final touches.
The venerable Traverse City football complex had the visitor's locker room and concessions added this summer, a year after the home side of the field was upgraded. And by next year, a brand new field turf surface is scheduled to be installed next summer.
With the funds secured for the project's final phase and the impact it will have on future generations, Thirlby Field is our top story for 2009.
The final piece of the puzzle came when Don and Jerry Olsen donated approximately $800,000 to put in artificial turf.
Tim Brick, one of the heads of Fourth And Goal, said there is $80,000 left to raise to complete phase II of the project, with approximately $30,000 pending from the football game ticket surcharge.
"I think when it's done, it's going to be one of the finest football facilities in the state," Brick said.
The effort to renovate Thirlby started about 15 years ago, but various problems have cropped up along the way, with the most recent difficulty being the souring economy. That has led to a slow down in contributions.
That is, until the Olsens stepped in.
"It was tremendous," Brick said. "Getting into it, I really thought we'd be looking at a two-year project. I figured the economy was on a roll and there was a lot of enthusiasm. All three (Traverse City) teams made the playoffs. I thought it was the right time."
Getting so close to completion of putting a new face on Traverse City football is a relief, said Paul Mahon, TCAPS director of capital construction projects.
"It's a great relief," Mahon said. "We (spent) the last two summers finishing our building-related renovations for bathroom facilities, locker room, concessions under both sets of bleacher areas. Timing-wise, it worked out great to finish those building-related projects and roll right into the third phase of synthetic turf."
The turf could also expand the type and amount of events held at Thirlby, with some possibilities being soccer games, although the field is on the smaller end of what is allowed by the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
Mahon said the school district has already conducted a topography study, soil boring analysis, site survey and looked into drainage issues, and met with six different artificial turf vendors.
Brick noted that the stadium has already come a long way from the facility of a few decades ago before the Between The Fences group started a renovation project that included concrete bleachers.
"Thirlby was a dilapidated, wooden facility with no bathrooms," Brick said. "There was a spiral staircase that went up to the press box, and the press box swayed in the wind. It didn't really matter, because there was a lot of ambience. ... It was ours and we liked it.
"What we really did was finish what those guys had always dreamt of having."
Even before the turf is put in, the stadium has gotten a huge facelift over the last two summers.
Permanent restrooms, locker rooms and concession areas were added over the last two summers, meaning the teams didn't have to make the trek next door to use facilities at the elementary school, fans don't have to wait to use port-a-johns and the concession areas have roofs over their heads. An elevator was added to the press box to meet state codes.
