PERRYSBURG – The Board of Education this morning voted to name the new synthetic turf field in Steinecker
Stadium for the donor who made it possible.
The field will be known as Widdel Field after Ken Widdel and his family. Widdel, a partner in a local
financial services company, and former Board of Education member, has taken out a $500,000 life
insurance policy with the district’s athletics boosters as the beneficiary. That policy has served as
the foundation for the fundraising for the $673,000 project.
The district recently secured funding for the project with the athletic department and boosters
responsible for making the payments.
Athletic Director Ray Pohlman reported that the work on the new turf field is on schedule and that
athletes should be able to use the field as early as Saturday for practice.
Perrysburg’s first football game, when the field will be dedicated, will be Aug. 28 against Bowsher.
Crews are still working on the landscaping, Pohlman told the board. The landscaping will be done starting
with areas closest the field and moving outward.
Also, asphalt will be laid around the ticket booth and entrance.
The response to the new turf has been enthusiastic with students and alumni stopping by to look at it, he
said. And some of them have volunteer to do whatever they can to help prepare the field for action.
Pohlman was headed over to the stadium this morning where volunteers from the boosters were working to
clean and paint the restrooms.
Perrysburg scores funding for football turf
PERRYSBURG – Perrysburg school district has secured the funding for the new turf being installed at its
football stadium.
The money is all coming from fundraising by the athletic department and boosters with no money coming
from the district’s general fund.
The district borrowed $654,000 through Ohio Association of School Business Officials. The state group’s
bonds sold Tuesday with a 3.3 percent interest rate.
The Perrysburg Board of Education met in special session late last Monday afternoon to approve the
borrowing.
Work on the project, which will cost about $673,000, is underway. Treasurer Matt Feasel said the school
district advanced the project money to get it started. That money will now be repaid through the loan.
Some of the expenses for the project have already been paid through an athletic facility account, which
is supported by gate receipts and other fundraising.
According to the schedule presented by Feasel, the facility account will be drawn down to make the
payments for interest and debt service. Fundraising by the boosters and athletic department are expected
to contribute $45,000 a year to help make payments.
The payments are $86,0000 in the first year and about $75,000 in the remaining nine years.
The boosters’ fundraising is bolstered by a $500,000 life insurance policy taken out by resident Ken
Widdel that names the boosters as its beneficiary.