Fort athletic center dedicated during open house

FORT RECOVERY - Visitors packed the new Jerome and Maurice Grieshop Athletic Training Facility on Sunday for a dedication ceremony.

Jerome Grieshop proudly sat front and center, surrounded by family members.

"This is quite the honor," he smiled. "I'm 90 years old. I've worked hard, as did my brother Maurice, and it took a couple of years but all of us couldn't be happier to see this day."

He wished his brother could have been at the dedication event but he passed away last year, he added.

The Grieshops contributed to the financing of the $900,000 athletic facility. The Fort Recovery Athletic Boosters led a fundraising campaign with the Grieshop family's support that paid for nearly $600,000 of the project. The district paid the rest.

Grieshop said he wanted to donate to the project because "this is home."

"This is my community," he said. "I'm very proud of this town and what we've been able to accomplish. But without the rest of the community support, none of this would have been possible. I just want to thank everyone for all they did."
The event Sunday also included a public open house for a recently completed high school renovation project. Voters in November 2011 approved a 2.7-mill levy that generated $3.4 million for the renovation.

Improvements include new heating, ventilation and air conditioning in the vocational agriculture department, automatic door controls with keyless entry and extra security cameras, plumbing work throughout the building, classroom technology, inside and outside doors for the gym, masonry work around the entire building, landscaping, classroom furnishings, kitchen updates, repurposing of the science classroom, new carpet and a parking/drop off area in front of the school with an Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant entrance.

Those touring the new training facility heard athletes proudly sing the school song and explain how the center will help them train year-round.

"We have more room to do our stuff," said Andrew Stocker, 14, a freshman who plays football. "When bad weather moves in, we're still going to be able to practice drills and lift weights. It's great."

Trevor Vaughn, 14, also a freshman on the football, baseball and basketball teams, said the new facility will help with all the sports.

"We've got the weights, we've got new hoops, we have a cage where we can practice batting, and for the track team there's more than enough room to run," the teenager said. "It's a real good thing everyone did."

Superintendent Shelly Vaughn couldn't stop smiling.

"Without the entire community's help, this wouldn't have been possible, she said.

Vaughn said she appreciates the pride the community takes in the school district.

"We made a promise to our athletes that we would give them somewhere they could train to succeed," the superintendent said.

Greg Schmitz, athletic booster president, said when he attended the school the weight room was the size of a small restroom.

"What a difference," he noted, as he pointed out the vast training area. "Now the students will do more because they've seen that the community will step up for them and do more."