Field of Dreams
Since the Knights' inaugural game in Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium in the spring of 1995, and with the addition of the Apple Sox playing for the first time in June of 2000, there have been thousands of baseball fans attending baseball games on our campus.
With the addition of women’s fastpitch came the North Rotary Field, followed by the addition of men’s and women’s soccer at Mike Hollis Field in the mid-1990s. With these two phenomenal venues, thousands of people have come to our campus to enjoy a ballgame in the valley.
The following is an account and timeline of the construction of this tremendous complex, written by the individual the complex is now named after, Mr. Sandy R. Cooprider.
1971
In August of 1971, I was hired as a full-time instructor of Physical Education, Head Baseball Coach and Assistant Football Coach.
1972
I attended a NWAACC Baseball Coaches meeting at Mt. Hood Community College. There I met Ron Walp who was the Head Baseball Coach of the Saints (MHCC). He gave me a tour of his brand new baseball field, which was slightly elevated above the new football field that overlooked the Multnomah River in Gresham, Oregon. The stands had red individual seating, a nice press box and a view of the river. It was pretty impressive seeing this facility.
1987
I was hired as the Athletic Director while teaching a full load and also serving as the Head Football Coach at that time.
1991
The Knight Football program was terminated due to not having enough teams to compete without having to travel into other states. The football program was dropped after the 1991 season was over, and the practice field was used to host youth soccer programs until the fields were declared unsafe to use. The practice field had over a hundred 35-year-old popular trees that lined the perimeter and halfway between the two practice fields.
When the football program was dropped, we had only men’s and women’s Basketball and women’s Fast-pitch as collegiate sports at Wenatchee Valley College. Out of 32 NWAACC schools, Wenatchee Valley College was at the bottom of the list. I had this vision of converting the unsafe practice field into a sports complex. The philosophy behind all of this was to have a quality athletic complex so not only could our athletic teams use them but also the youth of our community would have access to them as well.
1992
I proposed to Arnie Hutchert, WVC President, that we bring baseball back to the campus, and within a couple of years add men’s and women’s soccer to the Knight athletic program. With the larger number of student-athletes this would balance out the Title IX requirement. It would give more opportunities for incoming student-athletes to participate from our North Central Washington high school community. He gave me the permission to come up with a plan on how I was going to accomplish this awesome task. In the meeting, the Finance Director stated that there would not be any state dollars going towards the sport complex. I would have to raise all the money to build this facility from outside donations, goods and services.
With the approval of the President I proceeded to meet with an architect who was a friend of mine who would eventually draw up the plans for the complex, pro-bono. After receiving the architectural plans, I set up meetings with most of the excavation and construction companies that were located in Wenatchee, including Goodfellow Brothers, Selland Construction, Pipkin Construction and many other smaller companies. We came up with a plan to begin on how and when this sports complex was going to be built.
1993
I presented the architectural plans to the President and he gave me the approval to begin. The final plan included cutting down all the poplar trees, moving them to the north end of the field near 9th Street, and removing all the stumps to the vacant property (now the Mike Hollis Soccer Field) that the college owned. Pushing and excavating 50 thousand cubic yards of dirt to the east end of the existing field.
Once the trees were out of the way the construction and excavation companies (Goodfellow Brothers, Selland Construction, Pipkin Excavation, Henderson Excavation) brought in their equipment to get to work, amounting to close to a million dollars’ worth of equipment on site. It was quite an operation, as I became the project manager.
A laser level was used with an elevation drop 1 foot per 100 feet. From west to east was 700 feet and from south to north was 600 feet. This was done for drainage purposes. This took about two weeks to complete. When that was finished a bowl was formed at the southwest portion of the field. The next week Selland Construction brought 3 earthmovers to complete the rough grading. At this point I was looking for additional donations to start the next phase of the sports complex.
Jim Corcoran approached me about the possibility in helping with the completion of the baseball stadium. He had plans drawn up similar to my plans but more complete. I agreed to his offer. We proposed this plan to the President and to the Board of Trustees. The Board made it clear we would need to raise the $1.5 million in order to accept Corcoran’s proposal.
It took most of the next 6 months, speaking at every service club, meeting with businesses and anyone who might possibly donate. We came up about $200,000 short, so the proposal was scrapped and I was left to complete the project myself. By this time I was burned out and needed a break. Two months later then-President Ahn came to my office and wanted to know where we were with the project. The field was pretty much left as it was before we started on a campaign to raise money for the baseball stadium. I told him that I would resume my fundraising soon, but I just needed a break.
1994
We dedicated the new racquetball courts in honor of Paul Thomas Senior. Dalton and Herb, sons of Paul, had donated $60,000 toward building the racquetball courts. After the ceremony Dalton said to his Dad, I need to show you what Sandy is building out behind the gym. He showed him the field that had a rough grade done a week earlier (just a bunch of dirt) when Dalton mentioned that I was constructing a baseball field. Paul Sr.’s eyes widened and pledged right there to give $400,000 to build it. Dalton was a little taken aback by the offer and he said, “Dad, we will have to talk about this.”
Shortly after, Paul Sr. passed away. He was a devout baseball fan, having been the original owner of the Wenatchee Chiefs from 1947 to 1965 that played at Recreation Park. The Chiefs were a farm team affiliated with several MLB franchises during that time.
I attended the funeral in the coming weeks and after the memorial was over, Dalton pulled me aside and mentioned about the time when he showed his Dad the roughed-in baseball field. He said bring me a plan on what you need and I will support your efforts in completing the baseball field. In return, I assured him with the approval of President Ahn and the Board of Trustees that the stadium would be named in his Dad’s honor.
I presented Dalton with the phases of what would be needed and how much each phase was projected to cost. With the completion of Phase One ($300,000) I presented Phase Two and so on until the completion of the facility.
Phase I
The irrigation system was installed for the whole complex, along with fencing and backstop. The final blue top grading was done by working a deal with Chelan County’s Lynn Berry and the State of Washington (Don Senn) for a training session that they have to do each year to keep their certification for laser grading. They spent a week doing the final grading for the preparation to brillion seed the outfield, the fast pitch field, and the rest of the adjoining fields.
I continued to go to every service club selling the concept of having a quality sports complex in this city and valley. As a result, we continued to receive donations of either money or goods and services from individuals as well as companies.
With the help of the Knight coaching staff and baseball team, we began pouring the cement steps, dugouts and storage area on the baseball field. The family of one of our players were cement contractors and had all the forms and expertise to complete this job. Soil compactors were supplied by then North Central Washington Rental. Selland Construction Company, which owned Central Washington Sand and Gravel, donated all of the gravel and cement for this project. Hundreds of cubic yards of concrete went into the eventual grandstands, dugouts and storage facility. It took about a week to pour a section at a time. This was done in between the Knights 1994 Baseball season. During this time the Knight Baseball team was practicing and playing at Recreation Park. Finally, the roofing of the dugouts and the build on the storage facility were completed. Vail Roofing supplied and installed all the lumber, plywood and roofing materials at no cost to this project. Overhead Door donated and installed the garage door.
Morril Asphalt, owned by Goodfellow Brothers, sent their blue topper operator with his smaller grader and they did the final grade for preparation for installing sod that fall. Once we had fine-tuned the irrigation system, it was time to install 95,000 square feet of sod on the infield and the perimeter on each side of the baseline areas. The coaches and the players of the Knight Baseball team completed the sod installation under my direction. It was the week before Thanksgiving and the day after installing the sod it snowed 6 inches. It was the best timing we could have wished for because of the moisture from the snow.
Phase II
We were able to kick start the next phase with a donation from Dalton Thomas in excess of $300,000. Next up for the project was to install permanent 8’ chain link fencing with gates on the perimeter of the baseball field. Installation of the backstop, netting and a purchase of a John Deere Gator and lawnmower.
Safeco Field (Seattle Mariners home field) was just finished being built and the naming rights went to them. I contacted Safeco Insurance to see if they would be willing to donate a large scoreboard. I set up a meeting in Seattle with their marketing director. We brokered a deal with Safeco and two of their local affiliates, Eastman Insurance and Gellatly Insurance in Wenatchee. Safeco donated $15,000 and the rest was divided between Eastman and Gellatly Insurance agencies respectively. This gave Safeco/Eastman/Gellatly naming rights on the scoreboard for ten years with a renewal of an additional $10,000 for an additional five years.
Without a source to install the scoreboard, we found out from one of the Knight baseball players that his father was a fabricator for Chelan County P.U.D., and he agreed to do it for free. He went to the salvage yard for steel girders to hold the 12’ X 24’ scoreboard, set the girders, welded the support arms, and one of his colleagues provided a crane to install the scoreboard.
The Phase II donation from Dalton Thomas also paid for fencing of the fastpitch field, construction of the dugouts with roofing, new infield dirt, the purchase of a John Deere Gator and the installation of the scoreboard.
I had been in contact with NWAACC about hosting the Baseball All-Star Game at the end of September 1994. It had always been at Lower Columbia for years, and it was an accomplishment to bring it to the valley.
1995
We celebrated the opening of Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium by having Dalton Thomas throw out the first pitch for the inaugural game played on our home field. It was the start of something special.
I came up with a plan to develop a soccer practice field and game field on the vacant property that we had used to put the poplar tree stumps into several big piles. I came up with a plan and continued to solicit donations, as well as in-kind goods and services. I contacted the city and Chelan County Fire Departments asking them to burn and monitor the burning of the poplar tree stumps.
Once we cleared the vacant lot of all the debris that had been dumped over the years, we now had a field to work with, and again, with the help of Selland Construction, we had the field rough graded and the irrigation system installed with the final grade done by Mountain View Landscaping, owned by former Knight football player Mike Stubblefield. We had the practice field, on the south end next to Fifth Street, brilion seeded, while the main field was sodded with 110,000 square feet of sod. The sod was donated and installed by Twin Fir Sod Farms. The installation of sod on the game field was done in two days! By putting sod on the game field, it allowed our soccer team to play the first soccer game that August.
There was a temporary fence installed to make sure that we kept everyone off of the practice and game field so it could mature and grow to be ready for the soccer season.
We played our first men’s soccer game Sept. 14, 1996, and the women’s first soccer game was played a year later on the field named for former Knight Football player, Mike Hollis.
Phase III
1999
I received a notice that the old Kingdome Seats were for sale, as the implosion of the Kingdome would be happening soon. I attended a public auction and submitted a bid on 1,200 red individual seats. I bid $5.00 per seat for a total of $5,000 and would have to pick them up within a week of the awarded bid. I was notified the next week that I had won the bid. I contacted Bob Rust of Weinstein Beverage, and Jim Hampton, who volunteered to pick up the seats. Bob sent over one of his Pepsi trucks, and Jim brought his truck and trailer too. Upon receiving the Kingdome seats, I contacted Randy Smith who was a fabricator and we sent up a plan on how to install the red seats onto our four cement steps in Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium. The Kingdome seats were not made for the inclement weather, and I knew over time that they would start to fade. When the seats were finally installed, the baseball stadium looked amazing with all the red seats.
Don Riechert, then-president of Wenatchee Rotary, contacted me to see if we would be interested in being the recipient of their annual fundraiser for the lighting of Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.
We had a meeting the next week with the Wenatchee Rotary fundraising committee and planned on one of the largest fundraisers to date. I volunteered to gather sport memorabilia and other vacation packages, as I knew several sport figures through when I was coaching football at the college. We received several from Kenny Mayne (My first QB “77” and now an ESPN Sports celebrity) who contacted Jimmy Johnson, Dale Earnhart and Jeff Gordon of NASCAR fame. They all sent autographed miniature replicas of their NASCAR cars, hats, and special promotional items and framed autographed pictures. Drew Bledsoe, famous NFL Quarterback (his Dad coached with me in 1977 at WVC and he was our ball boy) sent autographed footballs, jerseys and framed photos. Steve Largent sent a painted portrait of himself in his famous number 80 Seahawks uniform. When the auction was completed, I was presented a check for $79,000 after expenses. They raised over $100,000 that night.
In the meantime, I contacted Musco Lighting to see how much candlepower I would need and what the costs were going to be. The lights for the stadium were going to be $125,000 delivered to our campus. In speaking to the CEO of Musco, I shared about the building of the sports complex and how it was solely done by donations, in kind services and volunteer help. He was so impressed that he chose to donate the poles for the lights that were about $50,000.
The lights and poles arrived in February 1999. We immediately planned for the installation of the lights, with concrete sonotubes donated from NCW Rentals, rebar from Morris Steel and volunteer P.U.D. personnel drilling 6 holes at 30 inch x 28 foot deep. With a donated smaller excavator I trenched the eventual lines to connect each light pole to the transformer. Kenny Ball was instrumental in ensuring the sonotubes were level and ready for concrete and placement of the foundation bolts.
Central Washington Concrete owned by Brad Selland donated the cement for each base. P.U.D. volunteers brought their trucks and trailers and transported the lights and poles up to Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium from storage at the maintenance storage area. They placed each pole at each base to be installed later in the week. After the curing process had been completed, McCandless Electric (owned by Greg Duncan, former Knight Football player) donated their crane and operator to set the poles onto each base.
McCandless completed the hook up of all electrical lines to the poles and then to the transformer and switch box.
A week later we turned the lights on for the first time and it was awesome!
Without restrooms on site, we had to rent mobile toilets for our fans’ convenience. We came up with a building plan to accommodate a concession, men’s and women’s restrooms, as well as a clubhouse and storage area with a friend of mine. It was a 3,000 square foot building which we were able to build with the help of the community for $80,000.
Kenny Ball, with the help of many others, constructed the site with CWC providing the cement for the foundation, Marson and Marson donating and providing us a huge discount on lumber, windows and doors. Central Washington Plumbing provided all the sinks, toilets and urinals and installed all for a heavy discount. The Local Electricians Union provided apprentice electricians for all the wiring.
The roofing materials were donated and installed by Vail Roofing. The employees and Gary Vail helped install the roof in one day. We had a big barbecue afterwards to finish the day, and had it completed in two and a half months, in time for the NWAACC Baseball All-Star Game.
We were awarded the NWAACC Baseball tournament as well, again drawing it away from Lower Columbia who had hosted the championship tournaments for years. The rationale was that we had drier weather than they did during this time in May.
I negotiated a contract with Jim Corcoran for the Applesox to play in Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium. It was the start of a very long relationship between the Applesox and WVC.
We purchased additional grandstand seating of 900 aluminum seats to go with the 520 individual seats with the help of Jim Corcoran, but we did not have any money left to install the bleachers. I put out a call for anyone that would like to help us and got a great response from the community and service clubs. With the help of Star Rentals giving us numerous air compressors and air wrenches and the help of a representative from the bleacher company, we erected the new aluminum seating behind home plate and the third base dugout. It was awesome seeing all the volunteers helping with the completion of erecting the bleachers in time for the inaugural start of the Applesox season.
With the help of Sadler Construction, they erected a movable press box and concierge building. We constructed it on skids so that we did not have to get a building permit. Time was short and we wanted it constructed before the season started for the Applesox.
The Paul Thomas Sr. Baseball Stadium was designed originally to have Babe Ruth Baseball Tournaments, high school playoffs, concerts (the only concert with headliner Willie Nelson July 2000) and even host WVC graduation. WVC Graduation is the only event that has not been held in Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.
2013
The Kingdome seats had turned a light shade of pink as they had faded, the paint on the clubhouse, concession, and restroom area was peeling and had faded, and the backstop needed replacing. I took pictures of all of this and put together a plan to refurbish the stadium. After seeing the stadium in that condition I went to then-Athletic Director Greg Franz and discussed how we could update the stadium.
I presented a plan to Dalton Thomas to paint all the structures a combination of Fenway Green with light tones of green, replace all the Kingdome seats with new green seats with cup holders. I with Greg Franz proposed we replace the infield dirt with a new mixture of sand and clay for a better playing surface. The total of the project was $100,000. Dalton Thomas committed the money to refurbish the stadium.
We hired Greg Hastings to do all the painting and the installation of the new green seats. Greg Franz and I were working together on this project and he ordered new dirt for the infield. We took out about a foot of the old dirt mixture and replaced it with new mixture with clay and other combinations to specifications for infield play.
Greg Franz worked with Jim Corcoran to replace the aging backstop with a new cable suspension system with netting. Greg had already purchased the new netting for the backstop. Jim Corcoran worked with a steel company and all the posts were donated. There was a bid to install the backstop. The bid came in a lot more expensive than we had finances for. I contacted Brad Selland of Selland Construction and explained what was going on in the refurbishing of the stadium and how Dalton had donated the money for the update. Brad said he would donate equipment and operators to complete the backstop project. Greg Franz oversaw the installation of the backstop project.
When completed the Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium looked awesome!
On opening day of the Knight Baseball season, we invited Dalton and his family to be there. His grandson, Dalton, threw out the first pitch, just as Dalton himself had done some 19 years prior. We also had a new entrance sign built and a testimonial of Paul Thomas Sr. with history of himself and photos when he played for his high school athletic teams mounted on the wall of the press box so fans could read when entering the field through the ticket gate.
Written by:
Sandy R. Cooprider
Wenatchee Valley College Athletic Director-1986-2000
