MADISON TOWNSHIP — Sometimes Sean Conway can’t believe his good fortune, even when more than 100 yards of good fortune is staring him between the eyes.
Sitting in the home stands at dazzling new Ram Field at STARTEK Stadium as personnel from the Cincinnati-headquartered Motz Group install the synthetic surface in the north end zone, Madison’s football coach has a hard time explaining what the project represents.
“To see the way our community has rallied around the school and our athletic programs, I couldn’t be any prouder to be the head football coach,” Conway said. “This is going to be the crown jewel of our athletic program. In my opinion, Madison will have the finest athletic facilities in this part of Ohio.
“This has been the greatest experience a high school football coach could ask for.”
It’s no secret that Ram Field was in need of a serious facelift. The natural grass surface was worn and the crown in the field so pronounced that the running joke among Madison’s less vertically challenged coaches was the 5-foot-8 Conway couldn’t be spotted from the opposing sideline.
“The only bad thing about the new field is the coaches on the other side of the field will be able to see Sean now,” offensive line coach and former head coach Matt Godsil joked. “We will lose our element of surprise.”
It’s a small price to pay.
The project began to take shape in January of 2013, when Jayson Stone established the Madison Stadium Improvements Committee. Stone and Madison Athletic Boosters president Joe Klupp partnered to raise about 90 percent of the estimated $730,000 it would take to finance the project in roughly six months, with the booster club paying for more than 50 percent of the venture. The project was green-lighted by the school board last July.
The Motz Group, the same company that installed the artificial surface at Mansfield Senior’s Arlin Stadium, began work at Madison earlier this month.
“Once they started work on the field, it happened pretty quickly,” Conway said. “It’s only been since about June ninth when they started to prep the track and put down the asphalt.
“It has been very exciting to walk outside every day and see the progress.”
It has been every bit as exciting for Godsil, a high school art teacher who was in charge of stadium design.
“Sean came down and asked me if I would put some things together on the computer,” Godsil said. “We talked about different looks and I put together several versions of what it could look like.
“I might have offered the guys too many choices, but they liked some of the ideas and we kind of whittled it down. The group liked the version we have now. It’s really clean looking.”
Once a design was settled on, Godsil made oversized prints that were used to drum up support for the project.
“I enjoyed doing it and it turned out to be an important tool to gain financial support in the community,” Godsil said.
Tom Luther, the site director of STARTEK Inc., 850 W. Fourth St., was quick to get behind the project. The new stadium name was unveiled in January of 2014.
“We jumped at the opportunity,” Luther said. “I’m passionate about high school sports and we formed a strong relationship with the Madison athletic department.
“What better way is there to give back to the community?”
A Cincinnati native and former college basketball player, Luther said the partnership between Madison and STARTEK is the future of high school sports.
“Companies are always looking for exposure and we are super excited to bring together the StarTek and Madison families,” he said. “This is the wave of the future.”
Godsil, who has coached football at Madison since Dana Woodring was the head coach, never envisioned a day when Madison would have an artificial surface, not to mention a new eight-lane track surrounding the field.
“I was pretty excited when we were able to put the field house up for a little over a hundred grand back in 1987 or ’88 or whenever it was,” he said. “We’ve come a long way.”
The project should be completed within the next few weeks. High school football practice begins Aug. 1 and the Rams will play their home opener against Galion on Sept. 5.
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
