Community brings football home to Pleasant Hope

Dollar by dollar, the lights have gone up.

And nail by nail, the press box rises.

The high school football stadium in the Polk County town of Pleasant Hope has slowly become a reality after nearly five years in the making.

And on Sept. 14, when Joplin-McAuley’s football team visits the Pirates, it will be the first time Pleasant Hope High School has hosted a football game on its own turf.

The school has played three seasons of football but will enter its second varsity season with the new school year. All games during the 2004 and 2005 seasons were played on the road, and last year’s home games were played in Bolivar.

Community teamwork

Because of community support, the Pirates won’t have to ride the bus home after a game every Friday night.

“That field is something that’s been derived from our community,” Pleasant Hope R-VI Superintendent Bob Biggs said. “Our lights have been totally donated. Our poles were donated. Our community has stepped up and helped.”

Biggs estimates the total cost of the stadium at $300,000.

“The business community has come together quite a bit as far as money, time, labor and resources for getting the field in place,” said Scott Bednara, loan officer with Community Bank of Pleasant Hope and board member of the Pleasant Hope Chamber of Commerce. “It should be something to see this next season.”

Some money for the stadium came from certificates of deposit obtained during construction on Pleasant Hope Middle School in the late 1990s. Those CDs yielded $64,000 toward the stadium project, providing fuel for construction trucks.

Funds for uniforms and equipment came from the Polk County Trust Fund, though the exact cost was not disclosed.

School officials also did not provide a specific list of business supporters, focusing instead on the communitywide effort that is bringing the stadium to life.

“Our field itself has been (built) by the graces of a lot of community members who have come and done a lot of work for a lot less than normal pay would be,” Athletic Director Heath Waters said. “To have the opportunity to open up that night at home for the first time in front of our home crowd on a new field is pretty exciting to think about.”

Supporting student athletes

Much of the community’s motivation to bring football to Pleasant Hope was the desire to encourage more students to get involved with extracurricular activities.

According to school officials, fewer than 60 middle- and high-school students were involved in extracurricular sports in 2000. Now, with the addition of golf, volleyball and football, more than 200 student athletes participate.

“We needed to try to do some things for our kids to be more involved,” AD Waters said.

Waters anticipates that the school will field 35 and 40 football players in 2007.

“The biggest motivation for the programs, not only football, was providing opportunities for our students,” he said.

While the team posted just a 1-9 record in 2006, they competed in Mid-Lakes League, a tough conference for a young program. Everywhere the team went, however, it had quite an entourage.

“We played our home games last year in Bolivar and packed the stands,” Biggs said. “When we went on the road, we’d have more fans than the home team.”

Pleasant Hope’s new grandstand comprises 19 rows and 976 seats.

Biggs said there won’t be much trouble filling the seats, especially for the inaugural home game.

“We’re going to have a lot of folks,” he said.