Game Day at The Panther Field
Yesterday I went to the former Sebastian Panther field to watch a little youth league football. The Little Sharks were playing teams from Palm Bay and Rockledge. I coached in this league for several years while my kids were growing up...in fact, I helped build this very facility about 20 years ago. We used to play in an old crappy field in Sebastian set aside by General Development many years ago. The City of Sebastian had this piece of ground available for recreational purposes....but it was just an empty piece of land....absolutely nothing on it. So, the football league made a deal with the city: We could use the field, but we had to develop it. So, about ten of us went to work. We all called on parents and favors from contractors to make this happen.
First, we had the land cleared free of charge by a local contractor. We had the land surveyed and marked out according to our plans. Gary Scott Sodded the field area. We sunk a couple of light poles to hold the score board that Coca Cola had donated to us. See the building in the back? We received some grant money to build this huge two-story facility. We actually built this building for about $40,000...mostly using our hand labor and lots of donated materials and labor from local builders .... Wayne Tozzolo Construction really stepped up to the plate and helped us out the most. In fact, without Wayne, this place would have never existed period. We HAND DUG the footers for the foundation. Mike Rizzo, Chuck Scala, James Tibbets and Myself personally set the floor and roof trusses by ourself by hand. I am sure there were many others too, I just can't remember everyone who helped. We personally set the blocks with the help of an experienced block mason. We framed the entire building. We nailed the plywood on the roof. The stucco work was donated. The roof was shingled at material cost. The electrical work was done at material cost. The painting was done by volunteers. Literally the entire facility was a grass-roots project. We ended up with two football fields (one for practice) and a building worth at least $150,000 (in those days) We deeded all this over to the City Of Sebastian for a free lifetime lease during football season. The Sebastian Panthers dedicated the field house (with a beautiful hand carved wood plaque sign ) to Wayne Tozzolo. "The Wayne Tozzolo Field House" was a dream come true for a youth football league struggling just to have a place to play. We all worked very hard to make this happen.
The league now is completely different. It is now called The Sebastian Sharks Youth Football League. They even ripped down the "Wayne Tozzolo Field House" landmark plaque. The League has grown up for sure. Field lights and fences were added. New parking lots were added. Sprinkler systems were added. Unfortunately, no one cares how the league was formed many years ago. Not many people know the story of how the field house even came into existence. There does not even seem to be an acknowledgement of the leagues history at all. I will see Mike Rizzo, or Chuck Scala, or Tim McEnderfer now and talk of those free wheeling days....and we just shake our heads. How the hell we ever made this happen seems like a dream now days. In fact, I don't think it could ever happen today.
Our game last Friday night was cancelled. A severe thunderstorm came ripping through the area with lots of lightning and rain. In fact, we lost power in the stadium. The game has not yet been rescheduled.
Later:
GZ
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