Mobile County Public School System Superintendent Chresal Threadgill addresses the crowd at the ribbon cutting for the new Davidson High football stadium Thursday. (John O’Dell/Call News)
By ARTHUR L. MACK
After playing games at Ladd-Peebles Stadium for much of the last six decades, Davidson High School cut the ribbon on its on-campus stadium Thursday, signaling a new era for the Warriors’ football program.
“I don’t know what it’s like because I’ve never had one where I’ve been,” Davidson coach Rick Cauley said of his school having its own stadium. “But this is really exciting. The student body was in awe when they got out here and just seeing the kids being happy is enough for me.”
The 4,500-seat, $5 million stadium will be a big boost for the DHS community, Cauley said.
“A lot of the families (in the immediate neighborhood) send their kids here,” he said. “They’re within walking distance. When we were playing at Ladd or Baker, it may have been a hardship to get there. But now it’s a lot easier. It’s in their backyard and hopefully the whole neighborhood will come out for Davidson football. … Most of the kids have played their games on the road. We had only three home games (last season) but we’ll get seven home games this year and they’re really excited about playing here on this turf.”
Mobile County School Board member Don Stringfellow said the new stadium will be a focal point of events on the Davidson campus and a money maker.
“It’s also going to be an opportunity to raise revenue that helps to pay for all of this stuff,” Stringfellow said. “It’s very important and it’s very exciting to be part of the school system where all of our schools will have stadiums. Football pays for a lot of this stuff. Every time Davidson had a home game, they had to travel and it was expensive and it wasn’t the same (as being on-campus).”
Davidson is the third school Mobile County public high school this week, joining LeFlore and Vigor on Wednesday, to celebrate their new stadiums with ribbon-cutting ceremonies. B.C. Rain’s on-campus ribbon-cutting is scheduled for May 22.
The school board approved new stadiums for Davidson, Vigor, LeFlore, B.C. Rain and Williamson in May 2021.
Alma Bryant, Baker, Blount, Citronelle, Mary G. Montgomery and Theodore already have on-campus stadiums and field turf for each has been approved. Murphy will be the only school in the county system without its own stadium.
