When current Vicksburg Warren School District Superintendent Chad Shealy stepped into the position in 2013, he faced a situation that immediately shifted his attention to a weathered aspect of his district.

During homecoming night of 2013 — when both high schools held it on the same night — the worst possible scenarios unfolded for Warren Central and Vicksburg’s scoreboards.

“The sound went out at Warren Central’s and the lights would not light up the night of homecoming at Vicksburg,” Shealy said. “We scrambled around and borrowed a YMCA scoreboard to pull out there on the side of the field in order for us to have a game.

“If I and anybody else had to stand out there to keep up time, it was going to happen. With that being said, from that moment on, it was my goal to begin to move forward with upgrading facilities.”

Both scoreboards were broken beyond repair, which led Shealy to make the purchase of the new boards. At the time, residual funds from the previous athletic budget allowed for the purchase of both scoreboards.

Shealy said the boards were planned and purchased at the same time with the approval of then Warren Central principal Jamie Creel and Vicksburg principal Deowarski McDonald. He added that the same-time purchase is why the boards are identical with the exception of color and icon.

The refurbishing efforts of Shealy with Vicksburg Warren high schools were just the beginning of renovations from not only his district, but for Porters Chapel Academy and St. Aloysius.

Since 2013, Warren County as a whole has steadily upgraded the facilities in which its youth plays.

The Missy Gators softball team and St. Aloysius’ football field received new scoreboards in 2015. The Flashes also built a new field house for the football team in 2013.

Warren Central’s baseball team received a facelift for its baseball field behind Bovina Elementary. Porters Chapel added netting, fencing and a new press box equipped with speakers to blast players’ walk-on music to its baseball field.

 

Vicksburg Warren School District

With the announcement of Preston Nailor as VWSD athletic director, the self-described prodigal son has returned home to breathe life back into his county’s facilities.

Nailor is a 1999 alumnus of Vicksburg High and served as a former assistant soccer coach. He’s seen how much facilities have deteriorated over the past 23 years.

“They were the same as they are now,” Nailor said. “Big picture is to change that and make sure we are as competitive and look as nice as anyone across the state of Mississippi.

“Anytime you can be proud of something that belongs to you, it makes you want to play better, it makes you want to look better. Whether it’s the scoreboard, jumbotron or even if it’s new stadium seats that makes you proud of what you have and makes you feel like at least you’re on the same playing field as everyone else you’re competing with.”

Nailor said when opponents come to Vicksburg for athletic events, the school’s gym and track and field are compared to the opponents own school. He added that competing against district opponents with better facilities makes students feel inadequate.

“Maybe we can’t play as well because we don’t have this or have that,” Nailor said on the attitude athletes feel when playing against opponents with better equipment. “If we put those things into place for our kids and show them that we care about them enough to put them in the best situation, they know we want to make sure they move on and do the best they can.”

As a powerhouse football program from the ’90s, Warren Central’s facilities have retained the same look as the 1970s, compared to other 6A foes such as Madison Central, which has a jumbotron on one side of its football stadium.

Nailor said when a school does not have adequate facilities and equipment, it puts those teams at a competitive disadvantage. For schools with a turf football field, they’re able to play yearlong despite how wet the field is.

 

Building a swamp

Without community support and fundraising from parents and boosters, upgrading a facility would be difficult.

If it weren’t for parents and their dedication, the Missy Gators softball team would possibly still play their games at Bazinsky.

“I’ve renovated probably six different fields over the years and every single one of them was done through fundraising and donations,” Vicksburg softball coach Brian Ellis said. “Why do we have to play at Bazinsky fields and my girls have to drive to practice everyday?”

Ellis inquired about a piece of land downhill from the JROTC building and adjacent to City Park. When he learned the land belonged to the school, he began to diagram the new field with approval from the school board.

After seeking approval, he alerted parents of his plans and began work.

“This field basically started and was majority done by parents, myself and coach (Hugh). We got to the point to start it by fundraising. We fundraised quite a bit of money to get the fence up. (The field) was all blown up and it was chain linked.”

In his first year, Ellis was able to rally more than 50 parents and players to clear out rubble and put together the new field. To create the infield, which was still grass at the time, Ellis used sod and a tractor to create the turf.

After setting up the field, the backstops were built and work was done on the dugouts.

“The school came through and said ‘You’ve guys worked so hard we’re going to give you the money for the materials to do the concession stand and press box,’” Ellis said.

The addition of the scoreboard was the bow that represented the hard work from parents and players to create their own playing field.

 

Welcome to the Eagle’s Nest

Porters Chapel athletic director and baseball coach Wade Patrick said the school installed a new wood floor in the gym and also renovated the visitor seating area, which was brand new this year.

The Eagles also received an impressive overhaul of its baseball field last year.

“We redid the press box and the back stop. We have a seating area that goes from dugout to dugout behind home plate,” Patrick said. “New nets up as a back stop for any balls that were hit. It used to be chain linked and now its brick with netting.”

Much like the parental efforts for the Missy Gators, Porter Chapel’s Eagle Club helped to quickly turn around the renovation project.

“It wasn’t as long as a drawn out detail as it could be,” Patrick said. Through their hard work it was a shorter process than normal. Everything fell for us. I wouldn’t normally expect it to be that quick of a decision and be ready in time.”

Patrick said the school tries to do fundraisers and similar projects to afford renovations, but it’s something that takes time and effort.

“Without them (volunteers) we definitely wouldn’t be able to accomplish what we have now. It takes a lot of work and time,” Patrick said. “We greatly appreciate it from a school and administrative standpoint for sure. It’s a behind the scene type deal that not everybody gets to see.”

The small, private school tries to do renovations yearly, but not necessary for its athletic fields.

Patrick and headmaster Pam Wilbanks want to make the school appealing for prospective students and want to make sure faculty and students are proud of what they have.

Patrick said students take pride when people are willing to put in the work and money to make things better and improve when the time comes.

From an athletic standpoint the fact that athletes have a nice gym to play in, it makes students proud to play inside the gym.

“You just have to sit down and list the priorities of the school and the money issues of what it would cost and things of that nature,” Patrick said.

 

Fitted for the Flashes

The small size of St. Aloysius gives way to two athletic properties to maintain: the gymnasium and football field.

“We’re always looking for ways to improve what you have. At the same time you’re looking for ways to improve what you have,” Flashes athletic director Mike Jones said. “A school such as ours, we go to our supporters and ask them for assistance whether it’s advertising or anything they want to do for us.”

In recent years St. Aloysius has upgraded the football field house and installed a new scoreboard on the football field, which was in its final days of operation.

After repeated instances of replacing 25 to 30 new light bulbs at the end of every season, a new Daktronics board was ordered with advertising from Magnolia Estates Home Center, Sheffield Rental, St. Dominic’s and Waring Oil Company LLC.

In addition to the aforementioned names on the scoreboard, Bop’s of Vicksburg and Hobie’s helped put new 25-second clocks on the field.

Actual retail price of a new board ranges from $20,000 to $22,000, with an additional $3,000 for installation fees.

Sometimes, it’s easier for St. Al to get support from its alumni who want to invest in their alma mater.

Because of the close-knit community of St. Al, the problem of running into repeat supporters presents itself.

“In a school such as ours you sometimes hit the same people over and over but you have to try and work around that as best as you can to not continually hit the same people. But that’s who supports you, your alumni, your boosters and those who have children here,” Jones said.

 

The future of facilities in Warren County

St. Aloysius has goals to begin aesthetic improvements to its gymnasium including a new scoreboard, fresh paint in locker rooms and new lighting.

“The scoreboard that’s in the gym presently, it’s the same age as the scoreboard that was on the football field,” Jones said. “It’s time to put a new one in the gym.”

In terms of the Eagles, Patrick said he’s currently unaware of upcoming renovations.

“I haven’t been in any discussions but we’re always looking. We just have to sit down as a group and see what’s next,” Patrick said.

For Vicksburg and Warren Central, Nailor unveiled his one-year, three-year and five-year plans at a department head meeting Tuesday and Shealy said all have a progression of where the school district needs to go and how to get there.

Nailor wants to make a top priority to replace the tracks at Vicksburg and Warren Central to bring back meets to the city of Vicksburg.

While acknowledging that the district’s football and softball fields are up to par, he wants to shift his focus to basketball and football once tracks are completed.

“Whether it’s stadiums, whether it’s a field house and weight rooms and the introduction of turf,” Nailor said of his plans to upgrade football facilities.

“We have the right man for the job,” Shealy said. “To repeat something (Nailor) made a statement about in the interview process, ‘There’s nobody more proud to be a Gator than me and there’s nobody more proud to be a Viking than me.’ ”