ASHLAND – Despite stormy weather driving the event indoors, Ashland City Schools marked a milestone Friday with a groundbreaking ceremony for the Keith Wygant Memorial Field House.
School staff, board members and students joined donors to the fieldhouse project to take turns turning shovels full of dirt on a tarp staged in the high school gym, alongside orange balloons and the high school’s pep band.Â
Nearby, Simonson Construction has begun sitework for the 40,000-square foot, $3.5 million field house. Simonson’s Dan Moore thanked the schools and community for involving the Ashland-based company in the project.Â
The building will be named for Keith Wygant, who would have graduated in the Ashland High School Class of 1971 but died unexpectedly in his sleep during the fall of his senior year.
Wygant’s parents, Norma and Lloyd, gave the $500,000 naming gift for the project. Along with other family members, the Wygants were the honored guests at the groundbreaking event.Â
“All I’d like to say is how proud Keith would be if he was here today and realized that we were going to have a facility where baseball, basketball, tennis, volleyball, wrestling and weightlifting would all be in one facility,” Lloyd Wygant told the small crowd gathered for the occasion.
Other donors or businesses involved in the project, many of whom were involved in Friday’s ceremony, included Bob and Jan Archer, Matt and Tricia Bernhard, Sutton Bank, Matthew and Melissa Wurster, Samaritan Foundation, Ashland High School Class of 1966, Mike and Natalie Goschinski, Lake Erie Frozen Food, Lynne and Jim Minnich, Simonson Construction, Suzanne and David Steury, Huntington Bank, Lucille Garber-Ford, Stephen and Peggy Yoder, Maxine Swaisgood, JoAnn Ford Watson, Mark Humrichouser, Chris Shafer and family, Jon and Monja Shoemaker, Rick and Kim Spreng, Fred Martinelli and Edmond Fulton.Â
Along with superintendent Doug Marrah, initial fundraising efforts were led by Rob Ward, Lucille Ford, Nancy Davis and Steve Paramore.
The Ashland City Schools Alumni Foundation is now raising money for a Walk of Champions, which will lead between the field house and the stadium.Â
Retired athletic director Ev DeVaul spoke about how expanding athletic opportunities for students have created a need for an additional athletic facility.Â
DeVaul praised the community for coming together to meet the need.Â
“A wonderful quote from John C. Myers 1949 goes like this, ‘Ashland is a town where people appreciate each other. They are a team pulling together to ensure success when something worthwhile is placed before them.'” DeVaul said. “This quote from 70 years ago rings loud and clear with the optimism of the great things happening now in the Ashland community and our schools.
“Today we proudly celebrate the newest one, the dedication of the Keith Wygant Memorial Fieldhouse.”
