Since the beginning of the PAC’s unveiling, the baseball field has always been missing one important part, a stadium. It has been Elder’s dream to include a baseball stadium to the field, but this particular dream had to be put on hold because of financial considerations.

After many years of waiting, the constructing of the baseball stadium is finally underway. Thanks to Elder Alumni, Jack Adams, class of ’57, this dream is going to become a reality. On Saturday, September 28, Elder hosted a ceremony to celebrate the groundbreaking for this stadium and to honor its benefactors. Butch Hubert, class of ’59 and his wife attended the ceremony on Saturday. Butch is one of the major supporters of the PAC. He donated the majority of the funds in order for the PAC to be built. I never knew why Butch would donate such a large sum of money to Elder High School, so I thought I’d ask him.

“I prayed to the Lord to give me the strength to tell me what to do”, said Hubert. “And that was to donate money to the greatest place on this earth, Elder High School.”

Jack Adams and his wife were also present at the ceremony. Jack donated a significant amount of funds so that this stadium could be built, and we couldn’t have thanked him enough for that. The new stadium being built will cost around $520,000 and Mr. Adams and other friends and family from Elder have raised $460,000.

Being a young and aspiring journalist, I thought it was only right that I go to the ceremony and get the scoop on this baseball Stadium. I asked Mr. Adams why he donated such a large sum towards this Baseball field.

“I fell in love with Elder from the beginning,” said Adams. “So in love that my license plate says “ElderHS”. Elder has always taught me to go and be the best I can be.”

Jack’s faith is also very important to him, which helped with his decision for this baseball field. From what I observed; the baseball stadium is going to be quite a project. For any of the students that haven’t seen the prototype, the outside of the stadium is going to resemble the outside of the school. It will have the brick towers, and a big letter E on the front.

After many inspirational speeches by our very own Mr. Tom Reiring and Mr. Dabbelt, it was time to proceed with the most historical moment of the ceremony, the ceremonial dig. Jack, Butch, Mr. Otten, Mr. Dabbelt and Coach Thompson all grabbed their shovels preparing for their moment.

Though something was off about Butch and Jack’s shovels, as I got a closer took I could see that the shovels were actually made out of Louisville Slugger bats! Thanks to J.P. over in the Alumni Development office, he was able to get two shovels made from Louisville Slugger bats just for the guests of honor.

The new baseball field is expected to be finished by the first of the New Year. Hoping that Mother Nature doesn’t mess with this date, the Elder baseball team should be able to try out this new baseball stadium before the beginning of the new season. If this baseball field is going to be as amazing as I think it’s going to be, I think that more people will attend the baseball games because now they not only have a place to sit, but their sitting within their school right behind home plate. If any of the students know anyone that would like to donate to this dream we have, donations would be greatly appreciated. We only need a little more until we reach our goal. Let’s strive for the higher things, help Elder’s dream become a reality.