GALLERY: Banning's New Complex Hailed, 1st Varsity Game Friday Night

The new football ground and athletic complex at Banning High School was hailed Thursday as a "field of dreams" come to fruition, and witnessed by some who helped make the Broncos a sporting powerhouse decades ago.

Students, faculty, volunteers, junior varsity football players, j.v. and varsity cheerleaders, and boosters for the soccer, swimming, basketball, baseball and softball teams turned out, and some participated in a late afternoon grand opening ceremony for the project near the 50-yard line.

The project - including the new field, stands, scoreboard, track, locker rooms, concession buildings, a swimming pool and a parking lot - has cost an estimated $12 million to $14 million, said June Lindsey, facilities consultant for Banning Unified School District.

Funds for the project came from a bond measure approved by voting taxpayers in Banning Unified School District, said Dr. Lynne Kennedy, district superintendent.

Banning native and Banning High graduate Deborah Dukes, president of the district school board, said it was a great day for the community and for Broncos everywhere.

Maurice Calderon, the first person of color elected to the Banning school board was in attendance, along with the Rev. Abron Evans, a former board member who played football and ran track at Banning High, as well as former Banning principal Tony Alvina in the late 1960s and '70s, Dukes said.

"Back in the days before the current High School was built, BHS was a powerhouse in football, basketball and track," Dukes said after the ceremony. "Hopefully now that we have built the fields the kids will come and play!"

Kennedy singled out school board member Amy Herr for taking the initiative more than five years ago to push for Measure R to pay for the project.

"Back in 2005, the school board at that time decided that we needed to look at running another bond that would allow modernization at all of our schools," Herr said in an interview after a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"Many classrooms didn't have air conditioning or heating," Herr said. "We also needed a classroom addition here at the high school as well as all the athletic facilities.

"Initially we weren't going to add the athletic facilities to the bond, we were just going to do classroom space and all of that," Herr said. "And then we really thought about it, and we understood that this is what a community associates with their school.

"So as much as you can have academic success, it's when they come to a football field like this that they really feel connected to what's going on in the school and in the classrooms," Herr said. "And that's how you get the community involved.

"It was bad that we weren't able to build the sports facilities originally when they built the high school," Herr said. "It was no longer adequate for our kids to have to come to the high school after being at Nicolet, and then be transported back to their middle school to have to practice  and to play their games and everything."

Measure R ran twice - in June 2006, when it failed, and in November 2006, when voters approved it, Herr said.

"It didn't pass in June so we ran it in November again," Herr said. "We did it very grassroots and we walked neighborhoods and knocked on doors. We had the kids who were actually coming to the school be part of it, so they were walking and knocking and explaining why it was important to them, so the voters could really understand what the measure was about."

Since the measure passed in November 2006, the district was planning and anticipating the day that came to be on Thursday, Herr said.

"All the architects  and construction companies that we've used have done a tremendous job," Herr said. "They've come in under budget and ahead of schedule, and I think today is just a beautiful day to see all of this come to fruition."

City Manager Andy Takata, Police Chief Leonard Purvis, Mayor Barbara Hanna and the rest of the Banning city council also attended the ceremony Thursday.

The Broncos host their first varsity football game on their new home field - against Bloomington High - at 7 p.m. Friday.