Easternoregonsports.com recently published an article announcing the celebration of Adrian once again playing football under the lights on a Friday night. With the installation of the new lights, the Antelopes are rolling, undefeated to date with happy fans enjoying Friday nights once again.
Though relatively new, we are finding easternoregonsports.com has some of the greatest followers. One of those reached out to us, providing us and our readers a history lesson on the lighting at Ward Field.
Mike Stephen, an adjunct instructor at Colorado State University in Pueblo provided information on the history of the lights and added some documentation to back up his statements.
As we bathe in the glow of the new lights highlighting the Lopes, remember to take a minute and recall the past. For 1953, the addition of lights in Adrian was front page newsworthy.
According to Stephen, the lights first illuminated the Antelope field on Friday, October 3, 1953. Adrian was facing a game versus Middleton. The Lopes won, 14-7!
Prior to the game, the principal, Athol Sayre, made a speech dedicating the new lighted field. The money for the lights was raised by the Adrian Lions Club and volunteers from the town installed the poles and lighting. The entire project lasted two years to become a reality for the town. The myth of if the lights were actually handed down from a professional team remains a mystery.
According to the Gate City Journal, the local newspaper, the event was marked by “rolling drums and exploding rockets”.
The newspaper states the game was “characterized by fleet-footed and deceptive running and passing.” For the Lopes, Bobby Keller scored on a 20-yard run in the final minutes of the second quarter followed by an end-around by Bill Shenk in the third quarter. For their efforts, Shenk and Keller were named outstanding players of the game.
Now, 66 years later, the Adrian community is again celebrating new lights. The Antelopes don’t play the Middleton Vikings any longer and while Middleton has grown into a valley suburb, Adrian still remains a farm town with great community support. Hopefully, in another 66 years, a writer will take the time and remember when the town came together for new lights in 2019.
We want to thank Mike Stephen for taking the time and effort to contact and school us on the history of Adrian football. Please take a minute to drop him a note at [email protected].
Note: Be sure and read through the full newspaper page attached below. It provides fascinating snapshot of the time and shows how some things have changed in almost 70 years (article on Polio victims being treated at Nyssa hospital) while some things have not (preview of the upcoming football game between Nyssa and Vale, update on sugar beet prices, Owyhee irrigation news).
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