W.O. Smith Field gets new paint job

Posted August 12, 2016 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

Those attending Chester football's annual Soup Game next week might notice something different.

With what coach Jeremy Blechle has dubbed "Victory Gray," the visitor's press box - along with the retaining wall on the south end of the field - is sporting a fresh coat of paint.

"With the (retaining wall), because there's natural spring water along the hillsides where the dirt would flow over the wall and muddy it up, that was painted, I think, by the inmates at the prison maybe over a decade ago," Blechle said. "It need some updating and some tender loving care and the inmates at Menard (Correctional Center) were kind enough to give us the labor and we decided to go with gray this time to match up with the front of the bleachers."

The press box, which was originally the home press box before the Yellow Jackets switched sides when their new bleachers and press box were completed in 2008, was previously orange and black, but the orange had faded over time.

"On the front when you're down on the field it looks pink in a way," Blechle said. "We all got together and decided that gray would be a good way to go.

"They're putting the black stripes back on it again and possibly put 'W.O. Smith Field' in a decal and I think the bee will be the top half of our other logo, not the 'J' logo."

Perhaps the biggest loss of the paint job will be the press box mural of a yellow-and-black, red-eyed hornet holding a football and sporting a snarling expression on its face.

"Nobody knows when that bee was even painted," Blechle said.

According to Chris Naeger - in a response to a Herald Tribune injury in the "You know you are from Chester, IL when…" forum on Facebook - the bee was painted in 1985.

It also is a logo that Chester High School had reportedly never used before, or since.

A year after updating the Yellow Jackets' football helmets with the "J" logo used similarly by the CHS baseball team, Blechle said the paint upgrades are to "spice up the field a little bit."

"That's a jewel of Southern Illinois," he said. "That's jewel of, I think, say it or not, any small school in the Midwest.

"If you get a chance to play on that field, it is something nice and I think this is a representation of what our school leaders and what our community thinks needs to be done."

Blechle was asked if there were any plans to add graphics or logos to the retaining wall.

"That's still in the works, maybe, possibly," he said. "I don't know if there's any final decision on that. I'm not really the one making those decisions, but hopefully."

In regard to the playing surface itself, Blechle said last week that it was on track to be ready for Soup Game next Friday.

Earlier this spring, the Chester District 139 Board of Education approved a six-year contract - worth $66,500.04 - with Kueker's Nursery of Perryville to rehabilitate the soil of W.O. Smith Field.

"They sprigged it two or three weeks ago and people were very nervous on what possibly the future may hold for it," Blechle said. "Can you really have turf in less than a month? It's Bermuda and right now is the best time for Bermuda to spread."

The football program was under strict orders by the Chester BOE to stay off of W.O. Smith Field for its summer camp to let the grass take root.

The Yellow Jackets have since been toiling away on their practice field, which is the infield at the Dr. Charles R. Young Track and Field Complex.

"We striped it just to add hashmarks and to have a representation of every 5 to 10 yards," Blechle said, in response to a question about the dimensions of the practice field. "As far as the width, no, I think it's short by almost 10 feet if you were to calculate it.

"But then you have to take off 10 to 20 more feet because you have to slow down before you get to the sideline because you're going to hit either a pole vault pit, running lanes, or triple jump running lanes."

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