Whitnall Falcon Field Receiving New Scoreboard

GREENFIELD, WI — Whitnall's Falcon Field recently got a new scoreboard. The new Daktronics screen replaces a scoreboard that was installed in 2012, and a movie celebration of the event has been planned.

The old board, an 8-foot by 14-foot screen, was installed with optimism, but shortly after its installation, it started to fail. Necessary replacement parts became hard to find, and according to Dave Pentek, the athletics and activities director for Whitnall School District — parts of Falcon Field's scoreboard were unrepairable and unusable within almost a year of installation.

The score still displayed, but the screens alongside the scores were broken, he told Patch. Part of the appeal of that original board, as well as the new scoreboard, is the video capabilities.

"We had a video board that wasn't operational, it looked like we weren't doing everything we possibly could to highlight our student athletes, to highlight our school," Pentek said. "We want to do everything we can to showcase our students, athletes and achievements that they've done."

To remediate the old scoreboard's video failure, Pentek launched a community funding initiative called "All On Board" in 2019.

"One of my goals when I came into the district five years ago was to get this replaced, it's kind of the icing on top of the cake, and our cake is Falcon Field," Pentek said.

Community businesses, individuals and organizations from Hales Corners, Greenfield and all around the district were given the chance to sponsor the purchase of a new scoreboard with numerous incentives, namely advertising rights.

Almost two years later, the community fundraiser has been a success. The new scoreboard at Falcon Field will be officially unveiled on Oct. 15 with a movie screening. Leading up to that, Pentek has been playing around with the controls and capabilities.

"It is pretty spectacular the things we can do, I got training on it this morning, we're kind of funking around with it... ...there's very little we cannot do with it," Pentek said.

The installation of the board means more than just a new way to highlight students and a better way to display scores. The scoreboard is a show of support, Pentek said.

"It shows the community backing of the Whitnall School District, as well as the Whitnall School District's backing of our student-athletes, students and our community," he said.

The board will be used in a game for the first time on Oct. 14, during the district's final at-home football game.

"By next year, when we have a number of months to work with it, we'll have almost like a college atmosphere and or a professional atmosphere for our athletic events," Pentek said.

The community movie night on Oct. 15 will open its gates at 4:30 p.m. The movie, Disney's Coco, will start at 5:30 p.m. Some concessions will be available, and most kids will need to be accompanied by an adult. Read the full event flyer here.