May 16, 2008

A new era of Yellow Jacket football will begin this fall at Chester High School.

A new coach, a new season and a new home side for Jacket football fans.

On an unceremonious vote of 4-1, the Board of Education of Chester Unit School District #139 accepted a bid which calls for new bleachers with a total seating capacity of 1,200. The bleachers will include 208 chair seats, 972 bench seats and 12 wheelchair seats along with eight companion seats for the total of 1,200.

The 208 chair seats could be sold as season tickets to Yellow Jacket football fans. The chair seats will be colored and when visible from the other side will make a huge letter "C".

The width of the entire seating area will be just over 138 feet wide. Included will be a two-tier pressbox that will be 12 feet wide and 30 feet long. The pressbox will have the words "W.O. Smith Field" above the windows and "The Home of the Yellow Jackets" below them.

School board member Jess Cushman was the only board member to vote against it. Troy Clendenin, Mike Lutz, Bob Koenegstein and Mitch Hammel voted in favor of accepting the bid. Vicky Beers wasn’t present at the meeting and school board President Shane Rock only votes if there is a tie.

For several decades, Jacket football fans have faced the east side of the field, watching the Jacket football players come over the hill on their way to the field but this season, their backs will be to the school.

Opponents of the change said it has been a long standing tradition to sit on the west side of Smith Field while others were concerned about the cost which is around $466,000 for the bleachers and pressbox. There is no word as to what the cost will be for the installation of restroom facilities and concession stands below the bleachers which are scheduled to be installed at the start of the 2009 football season.

Proponents of the change say it will give the football fans a better area to tailgate which will now be held behind Marie Juergens Gym and the opposing team will have to run through Chester fans to get to the field instead of having the Yellow Jackets run through the opposition. Some coaches and players say there have been a number of times they have been cussed at while either entering or leaving the football field.

Construction work on the bleachers will begin soon and the new stands should be ready to go by the start of this upcoming football season.