Turf down in Ringgold's tornado recovery

Coach Robert Akins talks about the new artificial turf surface of the football field at Ringgold High School. Two of the school's athletic fields were heavily damaged by an April 27 tornado and are being rebuilt.

Photo by John Rawlston.

RINGGOLD, Ga. -- Robert Akins has seen a few uplifting moments in the past eight months, but none may have touched him any more than what the veteran Ringgold High School football coach and administrator witnessed last week.

As Akins stood on the home sideline of the school's just-installed artificial turf field, the countless hours spent raising funds, making phone calls and taking road trips suddenly made perfect sense. While workers began the process of building support for the stands, the sun broke out on this Indian summer day in December and, for the first time since April's tornado laid waste to Don Patterson Field, kids broke into a spontaneous game of touch football.

It was enough to make the admittedly worn-out Akins come to life with excitement.

"We walked through yesterday, and you kind of reflect back to the tornado coming through and everything that's happened since," he said last Tuesday. "It's just pretty gratifying to see the field in place and to see kids playing on it. To see something better than it's ever been is nice. Every day you saw it progressing and you got more and more excited to see what was happening.

"I know the kids are extremely excited to see the final product. We've had several physical education classes come out there, and I brought some of the linemen out for a walk-through and we ended up having an impromptu game of flag football."

The new field, installed by Shaw Industries, is the fourth artificial surface to be installed in northwest Georgia, joining Baylor and McCallie at high schools in the Chattanooga area. Like the other schools, Ringgold will use the field for much more than football, and with much less maintenance required, the cost will be recovered before the field has to be replaced.

"I want it to be a community showcase," Akins said, "and I really believe it's safer than what we had. With high school, middle school and recreational programs all using the old field, just trying to keep it safe for all the kids was getting more and more difficult and expensive. This field will, I think, get better as time goes on. Shaw gives us an eight-year warranty, but we feel if we keep it the way we need should, it will last us 15 to 17 years before we have to replace it."

There is still much to be completed at the stadium -- including the stands, press box, scoreboard, fencing and landscaping -- but Akins said everything should be in place by the end of January.

Work also continues on the baseball field, where sod was laid last month, lights were installed and dugouts were completed. However, with the start of the practice two months away, there is little room for setbacks.

According to baseball coach Brent Tucker, stands, fencing, netting and the indoor and outdoor batting facilities are still to be completed.

"There's still quite a bit to do, even though we've come a long way," Tucker said. "The grass is down; the dirt is down. I would say we're 70 percent home. I'm excited about how the brick work is shaping up. Fans are going to love coming to games. It's going to be a better viewing experience for them because there will no longer be poles in the way."

Players are frequently walking over to see what's changed and finding their coach either working or overseeing. Then, inevitably, the question will pop up.

"'Coach, when can we get on it and start taking some ground balls on our own?'" Tucker said with a quick grin. "The kids are a lot like the coaches: They see something started and looking this nice and they can't wait to get on it."

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.