New Turf at MHS Ready for Competition

Morristown High School's Memorial Field is ready for some football—and a few other sports—to be played on it starting this fall.

A brand new multi-use synthetic turf field has been installed just in time for the upcoming football season. The new field from inception to completion took four years, Hans Dekker, president of the Community Foundation of New Jersey, said.

The entire project cost a total of $786,000 dollars and did not cost the Morristown taxpayers extra money, as all funds for the new turf were raised from donations by private individuals and organizations, Dekker said. People from diverse backgrounds joined together and focused on making this new playing field a reality.

In all, money raised from private donors and grants amounted to $706,000, with an additional $80,000 in taxpayer money going toward the purchase of the turf. Dekker said the $80,000 dollars was to be used for grass seed for the next three years but instead will be used to finish paying for the new turf. The new turf field has a 20-year life span and eliminates the need for grass seed, he said.

In 2006 a group of Morristown community leaders got together and named themselves the "Team Up for Turf Committee." Key members of the Team Up for Turf Committee are Stephen Wiley, Mike Barry, Jay Delaney, Steve DeLargy, Jim McCreedy and James Remler. The committee's soul purpose was to raise funds for a new field for Morristown High School. The proposed field would be comparable in quality and even surpass playing surfaces of high schools from surrounding towns, Dekker said. 

The Team Up for Turf Committee attracted financing from various sources. Organizations such as the Community Foundation of New Jersey, Morris County Community Foundation and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation among others contributed to the effort. Even the New York Jets pro football team along with the NFL Youth Football Fund made a huge $200,000 dollar donation in mid 2009, Dekker said.

By late 2009 the goal of the Team Up for Turf Committee was reached and the contractor paid. Ground breaking for the new turf was in January and the new turf took six months to be installed. 

"We were very happy to work with the Team Up for Turf Committee," Dekker said. "Morristown High School's new field will make the school more competitive with other schools by having a field to play and practice on year round."

And this new playing field is not just about football.

"Not only will football be played on this new turf field but soccer, lacrosse and field hockey as well," Morris School District Superintendent Thomas J. Ficarra said.

The field also will be available to local community sports teams, the superintendent said.

"The new drainage system installed with the new turf will eliminate the flooding and constant wet field that plagued the old grass field," Ficarra said. "For years, only football could be played on the field because after football season the next several months was used to reseed and recondition the field."

But the problems with the old field are now in the past and many are looking forward to the benefits of the turf field, Ficarra said.