Veterans Memorial Stadium - Still standing Late Wednesday Night
Okay- So it was LATE Wednesday night but I said that every time I passed thru H-Burg I would stop and look at the house that was Bob & Teresa's. You have to look close at the picture on the right but you can see the portion of the stadium that remains standing ! The pic on the left shows you the pile of rubble from the remainder of VETERANS MEMORIAL STADIUM...
The Turks are a HUGE part of our beloved VBL and they will be in extra need of our love and support during the "re-location" season of 2009. H-Burg will be playing Day games at the light less current JMU park and this will cause a crowd strain for games during the week. On the bright side it could create some day/ night doubleheaders...
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Yeah, it's almost gone. Tuesday morning the guy told me that the Press Box section wouldn't go down until around 1:00. He took my cell phone number and said he'd call me if it was sooner.
I went back over at 11:00 and it was already down. I was crushed!
That poor Press Box had been so amazing during the whole process standing so proudly with the door opened, as if to say "Welcome, come on in, we've got another game left to do".
However, get this ... the door fell from it's secure home on top of that stadium to the ground on top of all that rubble and didn't suffer one crack!
It is in complete tack. We've brought it home but aren't really sure what to do with it. It just seemed like the thing to do.
They told me Tuesday @ 5:00 that they were starting at 7:30 a.m. this morning on the right side section.
So I was there at 7:25 sharp with camera in hand ready to take the picturess of the "Turks Fan Section" go down. I didn't want to miss this one.
I had been walking around taking pictures. They told me they were going to hammer the two tall end poles at the back and then it would go down.
I got pictures of them attacking those two posts and nothing happened.
So he moved to the side and started hammering on the short front post and before I knew it ... kaboom it was falling and you heard a thud and saw dust flying.
Good thing that I was engulfed in watching what they were doing through the camera lens and just started click, click, click, clicking as it was going down.
It only took a second for all of that concrete to come crashing down.
It was amazing. There is so much metal wiring within that concrete acting like it just doesn't want to let it go down and it is hanging on for dear life to keep it together.
Yesterday as they were chipping away at the seats in the "Turks Fan Section" a big hole oened up but the "players' tunnel into the dugout" was still there.
I looked beside that doorway and there was a VBL conduct poster taped to a narrow section of concrete.
There have been so many "amazing and eerie" things like that that I've noticed during these long days.
The antique shiny blue water pump is still standing there amist all of the dust, rubble, and rhubar (?).
The "Turks Fan breezeway" stood so that you could see through to the pitchers mound.
The two lonely Turk hats that I found one evening laying on the pavement is nice and clean after a trip in my dishwasher.
The outline of "Veterans Memorial" letters were still together on one piece of concrete after falling from it's place on high.
The "Stadium" outline is left on the section to come down tomorrow.
So I'll be back at the stadium bright and early Thursday morning and hopefully capture the lone center section fall to it's destiny among the rubble.
The men said that they've still got their work cut out for them separating all the rhubar from the concrete.
JMU wants to crush the concrete up to recycle it and use it in the new stadium. They are promoting the new complex as a "green facility".
I'm planning on making a photo book of this whole experience to have availble to share with our fans.
Thank you dear friend for your continued support!