It’s a familiar scene in movies and in television shows about high school football teams in small towns.
The stands are filled with the locals.
A lot of the spectators there don’t have a player on the team from their family — but it’s their team anyway because they attended the high school or live in the community.
“You know the movies, when you see Texas football? It’s like that,” said Pasco High School principal Kari Kadlub. “The community support is amazing.”
The stadium is the place to be when Pasco High has a football game, Pasco County Schools planning director Chris Williams said.
“I didn’t realize it until I moved to Dade City, but the Friday night game, everybody goes there,” he said. “It’s a community event. It’s not one of these things where only the parents go.”
“It’s a culture,” agreed state Sen. Wilton Simpson, who graduated from Pasco High in 1984. His mother also is a graduate of the school, as are his wife and daughter. His son will graduate from there next year.
“All of the Simpsons have come through here,” he said.
Some spectators have been regulars at the games for decades, Kadlub said. One group of sisters has been Pasco High fans for about a half-century.
“They literally sit on the track with their lawn chairs,” she said.
Part of the attraction is the team itself, said Simpson, who recently spearheaded a community effort to help build a concession stand and add new restrooms at the stadium.
“We’ve got good coaching and a good program,” he said.
Many Pasco High graduates still feel a deep connection with the school, said John Petrashek, director of construction services for Pasco County Schools.
“It’s a real identification and association,” he said. “That’s where they went to school. That’s where they graduated. That’s their school.”
“There’s a lot of pride here,” Simpson agreed. “If you come out here (to the concession stand) and look at the boosters cooking, most of them graduated from this school. Some of them (graduated) in the ’70s, and some in the ’80s.”
The community and Pasco County Schools came together to make the improvements happen. The concession stand — built to last for at least 30 years — replaces a shed. The stand’s professional restaurant-style equipment replaces a portable grill.
“I helped raise the funds for the project and was general contractor,” said Simpson, who also is head of Simpson Environmental Services, which specializes in asbestos removal, mold remediation, duct cleaning, lead-paint abatement, general contracting and demolition work.
On top of that, he owns and operates Simpson Farms, an egg-laying facility based in Trilby that is home to more than 1 million chickens — supplying eggs to supermarkets throughout Florida.
Tom Lameau, an electrician for Pasco County Schools, did the electrical work on the project. Bobby Correia, also on the district’s staff, did the plumbing. A number of other district employees handled other chores during construction.
The new concession stand and new bathrooms were desperately needed, Simpson said. Construction began a couple of days after the last school year ended, and work was completed a couple of days before the school’s first football game.
One portion of the project remains to be done. It involves renovating the restrooms underneath the stadium, Simpson said. That work will start after football season ends.
“If you go back to the ’80s, the restrooms under the stadium are the same ones as when I was here,” he said.
Besides benefiting the football crowd, the concession stand provides an avenue to generate revenue for booster programs and local civic groups, Simpson said.
“The Kiwanis Club and Rotary Club may use this facility for fundraisers during the year,” he noted.
The project cost about $275,000, with the school district covering about $75,000, and community contributors chipping in the rest.
Simpson was humble about his contributions to the effort.
“There were a lot of very generous people,” he said. “We were just the backstop.”
The school celebrated the new facilities at a dedication ceremony at the Oct. 10 game.
Kadlub marvels at the transformation.
“You see, over there, that shed?” the principal said, pointing at a small shed across the field. “We called it Ted’s Shed.”
There’s no comparison between the old facilities and what’s there now.
Not only is the concession stand larger and better looking, Kadlub said, the equipment is safer and allows food to be cooked more quickly.
“At halftime, there used to be a really, really long line,” she said. Now, patrons can get their food faster.
There’s a lot to be said for creature comforts.
“I was on the fair board for a long time,” Simpson said. “As we upgraded our facilities — cooking facilities and restroom facilities — it was easier to keep a crowd longer.”
Published October 22, 2014
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