January 18, 2006

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Palo Alto Online

Gunn struggles to upgrade athletics facilities

by Alexandria Rocha

Gunn High School's sports boosters have made a small step toward enhancing the campus' athletic facilities -- which some call "miserable" -- by raising enough money last week to purchase electronic scoreboards for the baseball and softball fields.

Gunn is the only school in its division lacking an electronic scoreboard on the baseball field and one of a few sites without one for softball. While the baseball teams presently have no visible means to score games, the softball teams have been using an old manual board on which the numbers are changed by hand. The new electronic scoreboards, which are 20-feet wide and 6-feet high, will cost $38,000. The funds have already been given to the school district, and the project designs will soon be sent to the Division of the State Architect (DSA) for approval. The boosters hope the scoreboards will be installed in time for this year's baseball and softball seasons. The scoreboards are just one part of much larger plight faced by Gunn boosters when it comes to athletic facilities. Compared to other schools on the Peninsula, Gunn's facilities are "a trailer park," according to school boosters' president Bob Cranmer-Brown. "Gunn is so far behind any other high school on the Peninsula, I really can't believe it," he said. "The Gunn students are homeless." Cranmer-Brown said Gunn athletes currently do not host any soccer or water polo games because of inadequate facilities. The football players do not host night games at home like their rival to the north, Palo Alto High School, where field lights were installed two years ago thanks to a hefty donation. Cranmer-Brown said Gunn is also the only local school that does not have two gymnasiums. Gunn's boosters have struggled for years to raise funds for athletic facilities. Cranmer-Brown isn't sure why it's more difficult to raise money for Gunn than Paly -- which has also unveiled a new pool this year paid for in part by donations -- but he does say the massive number of projects is overwhelming. In fact, Cranmer-Brown is calling for a new bond measure that would fund upgrades to all the schools' extracurricular facilities, including the high schools' theaters, as well as the music and robotics workshops. "You can only learn so much in the classroom. So much of (the students') character and interaction come from what they learn in these extra curricular activities," he said. "So many great citizens learned from their coaches." While there has been some talk at the district level about a future bond measure, which would require voter approval, officials have yet to make any decisions. In the meantime, the boosters are focusing on smaller projects that could at least improve the student-athletes' experiences. "We've been trying to handle the smaller, more manageable projects," Cranmer-Brown said. Besides the scoreboards, which were funded mostly through donations from Palo Alto's youth baseball leagues, Dennis Austin -- whose son is a junior and baseball player at Gunn -- is leading the charge on two other minor projects for the baseball teams: to build covered dugouts and extend the fences on the fields. "If you have the funding, it's possible," Austin said. "This (first) project was done with generous donations." Gunn athletics supporters are desperately trying to wrap up a project to install stadium-quality lights on the campus' football field. The lights, which will be similar to the ones on Paly's Hod Ray Field, will cost about $300,000. The district has agreed to pay for the American with Disabilities Act compliance upgrades, and the boosters are to take care of the rest. The design for the lights has already been approved by the DSA. With a hefty donation of $100,000 from the Tomahawks Lacrosse Club of Palo Alto collected in December, the boosters are now just $40,000 away from fully funding the lights project. Members are hoping to receive donations by March, so the lights can be installed in time for this fall's pigskin season. "Now we have something we're really closing in on," Cranmer-Brown said. Staff writer Alexandria Rocha can be e-mailed at arocha@paweekly.com.

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