The Jennings County High School athletics complex has undergone a sort of a metamorphosis over the past two years.
In 2018, the Panther football team played on new turf. The track also was resurfaced before last spring’s track and field season.
Last fall, the basketball court was resurfaced, and turf was put down on the baseball and softball infields and bullpens. Both fields also got new dugouts, new press boxes and concession stands, new drainage and irrigation for the outfields and new fencing. The tennis courts and parking lot also have been resurfaced.
The latest project in the $8.5 to $9 million renovation is a $5 million state-of-the-art wrestling facility.
“We had a facility study done, and we needed to improve our facilities,” Jennings Superintendent Teresa Brown said. “Our school is 52 years old, and those facilities hadn’t been improved much and we just thought it was time. Our school board felt we wanted to give our kids the opportunities that other schools had. We wanted to be the district of choice for students.”
The Panthers were set to play on their renovated baseball and softball fields and tennis courts this spring, but with students in e-learning for the past two months because of the coronavirus pandemic, the IHSAA canceled all spring sports.
That will allow a little more time for the sod to develop on the baseball and softball outfields.
“Our baseball field was under water (last year),” Brown said. “Our softball field, anytime in rained, they couldn’t play. The tennis courts, same thing. There were just a lot of things that needed to be done. We’re just trying to increase opportunities for kids and build things they’ll be proud of and make them more competitive.”
While Brown is in her third year as superintendent at Jennings, Cory Stevens is in his first as athletics director. The Naperville, Illinois, native, came to North Vernon from North Central College in Naperville, where he was assistant baseball coach for and associate director of development the past three years.
“It’s been extremely busy, but in a good way,” Stevens said. “These are obviously very good things for our community and our student-athletes. It’s well worth it. (The improvement plan) was on the table, and it was really one of the major reasons why I wanted to be involved and come to Jennings County. They were serious about their athletics, and they were serious about their student-athletes.”
While the football, track, baseball, softball and tennis upgrades came at their existing locations, the wrestling facility will be brand new. Harmon Construction, with architects from Woolpert Engineering from Cincinnati, are building the addition onto the south side of the school.
The 24,000-square-foot facility will seat 1,000 people and will include two locker rooms and a coaches office.
“It’s going to be more than nice,” wrestling coach Howard Jones said. “For a number of years, I’ve said that we needed a wrestling room, a place to practice and things like that. This is going to be quite a showpiece if it turns out the way the architects and I have been in conversation since Day 1. It should be what I’m calling a state-of-the-art facility.”
Harmon Construction, which is owned by former Jennings and University of Louisville basketball standout Billy Harmon, said the facility will be done by Nov. 1, just in time for the start of wrestling season.
“One of the great things, it’s kind of neat that he got the bid,” Jones said. “Billy has been a big proponent of ours in wrestling, even though he was a basketball player. He always said he liked what we were doing.”
Several of Harmon’s workers have been wrestlers for Jones during his 41 years as the Panthers coach.
“It’s kind of a neat thing to see that the kids that went through this over the years are now building what we wanted actually better than what we wanted for our high school,” Jones said. “That makes it even more appealing, even more exciting for me.”
During much of Jones’ tenure, the wrestling team has been split between three different areas for practice — the gym’s north and south balconies and the weight room.
“We’ve been hoping for one of these (facilities),” Jones said. “We’ve actually been promised three or four times that we would have a wrestling room, and each of those times, it has fallen through. We practiced on the balconies of the main gym, and it made things pretty rough because we’d have to carry the mats up and down (for meets on the main floor), and we’d have to finish early for girls and boys basketball games.”
Harmon broke ground on the wrestling project the first week of March. Terry Wetherald, who was Jennings’ first wrestling coach in 1968, and Jim Harr, who preceded Jones from 1969-86, joined Jones, in the ceremony.
“It’s kind of neat,” Jones said. “Football coaches, we’ve had over 10. Basketball coaches, we’ve had about the same amount. Wrestling, we’ve only had three, and all three are in the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame.”
Jones said a lot of people deserve credit for the project, most of all Brown.
The school corporation was able to fund the project without a tax increase. Brown said the funds came from a combination of operational funds and bonds.
Two years ago, the school took out a $5 million bond for the wrestling complex and a $3.5 to 4 million bond for the other projects. They included improvement in other areas, including safety and security with improved lighting and cameras around the school and the facilities. The school also took out five other $2 million bonds a couple years ago for the football field.
With debt coming off the books, the corporation was able to make the improvements without increasing the tax rate.
“We’ve been very financially responsible,” Brown said. “It was just time to look at improvements. We have a great business manager (Amber Fields) who is retiring at the end of June, and she’s done a great job. We’ve been proud of what we’ve been able to get done.”
