The city of Springfield, Massachusetts is home to a new football field – part of a larger project to add more student athletic facilities to the area.
For the past year, work on the new Ted Plumb Football Stadium off of Wilbraham Road has been coming together — with a synthetic turf field, bleachers that can seat well over a thousand, and a surrounding track.
It was the initial phase of a three-phase project totaling at least $16 million. On Friday, Sept. 6, the first phase's completion got a proper kickoff – honoring the field’s namesake.
“He coached not only football, but he coached baseball and basketball,” said Mayor Domenic Sarno, speaking during a ceremony ahead of a football game Friday night. “But he was known for his football days - 30 years he dedicated to the City of Springfield and to the student athletes.”
For decades, Plumb coached at that was then-Springfield Trade High School – which eventually became the Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical Academy.
In 1970, Sarno says, a field was dedicated in Plumb’s honor, but nearly 40 years later, the land would give way to a new Putnam school building.
About 16 years after the final games were played at the former facility, a new, state-of-the-art sports complex now bears his name beside Duggan Academy. On Friday, it hosted a football game between Putnam and the High School of Commerce.
On hand was Plumb’s extended family, including his son, James, who told reporters the longtime coach would have loved to see the latest dedication.
“He'd have been very happy - this is a testament to his 35 years of coaching the kids of greater Springfield, and he'd be very proud of this, as we are, too,” he said.
State and local officials remembered the coach from when they attended school in Springfield.
11th Hampden Representative Bud Williams recalled being told by Plumb that he was too valuable to the school’s basketball team to risk on the football field.
Instead, he was offered a chance to help on the sidelines. When it came time for team bus travel, though, Williams said he couldn’t afford the suit required of traveling players – leading to Plumb and others pitching in.
“I'm kind of dejected and upset and crying, and Willie Manzi, who was assistant coach at the time, got together with Coach Plumb and Eddie Kosior, who was my head coach in basketball,” Williams recounted. “They put some money together - they purchased my first suit that I ever owned in my whole life - true story! That's the character of Ted Plumb!”
On Friday, Putnam beat Commerce 36-6 on the new field – only the second of its kind in the city’s school system, according to Ward 5 City Councilor, Lavar Click-Bruce – the other being by Central High School.
With more additions to come in the project’s later phases, the councilor says the 22-acre sports complex and park will be a community center of sorts.
“I’m ecstatic - I wish I had this when I was growing up,” he told WAMC. “Kids have a state- of-the-art facility - the football field, we have track and field, we have the basketball courts. We're going to have baseball diamonds and a soccer field, as well. So, it's multipurpose, and the city gets to enjoy it and also the community. We're going to have community walks for our seniors, senior groups. So, I think it's going to take on a life of its own.”
According to Sarno, the first phase of the project totaled around $9.3 million.
The project’s second phase, slated to bring a new fitness area and upgrades to baseball, softball and soccer fields, is expected to wrap up this fall, according to the city’s 2024-28 capital improvement plan.
The same report says the third phase, consisting of parking area improvements and other amenities, will begin in the summer of 2025 and finish the following fall.
