FLORENCE, S.C. (WBTW) — For more than 50, South Florence, West Florence and Wilson High School shared the field at Memorial Stadium. They now all have their own stadiums on their school campuses. Ground was broken on the 5,000 seat stadiums in September 2020.
“We are thrilled for our students to finally have a true home stadium,” said Florence 1 Schools Superintendent Richard O’Malley. “I don’t think there is any way to put in to words what this means to our students, this district and the community.”
Each of the three stadiums have a new turf, field house, concession stands, bathrooms, a locker room for home and visitors and a dressing room for referees.
“School pride is just through the roof right now. It gives everybody…if you’re an athlete or not it’s just cool to come in and see our district cares about the kids,” Greg Johnson, West Florence Athletic Director, says.
“We’re excited about the playing surface always being ready to play. It’s an investment that is really beneficial to us as a football program. It’s something we don’t have to worry about,” Drew Marlowe, South Florence Football, Head Coach, says.
With all of these features these student athletes now have access to a field in their own backyard.
“To see them walk across the field coming from our old practice facility and from the locker room and watching them walk onto the field itself is…I mean just to see those kids bright eyes coming across and the excitement itself is really a joy to see,” Derrick McQueen, Wilson Athletic Director, says.
Johnson says this was long overdue but credits Superintendent Dr. Richard O’Malley for getting this done.
“Our students are actually going to enjoy this too. Our teachers are going to enjoy this. My kids who are in kindergarten are going to enjoy this one day and I think that’s probably the coolest part.”
The first varsity football games at the new stadiums are
- South Florence: August 20th
- Wilson: August 21st
- West Florence: August 27th
