I arrived in Happy Valley as a Penn State freshman in the fall of 1977. Similar to today, about 11,000 students lived on campus, and the rest lived in apartments and houses spread around town. The farthest reaches of the off-campus students were Laurel Glen apartments on Vairo Boulevard to the northwest of campus (which soon went bankrupt and have been renamed in the ensuing years), and Briarwood apartments at the end of Waupelani Drive to the south.
To many of us, both these apartments existed at the proverbial end of the earth. Laurel Glen was often reached from campus by walking to Sunset Park off McKee Street and hiking a mile through the woods and PSU farmland – clearly it was in the middle of nowhere. Briarwood, on the other hand, was much more residential and had a number of other apartment complexes you passed along the way – many of which still exist today.
Another place you would pass along the way to Briarwood apartments was the Westerly Parkway Plaza. It housed a Weis grocery store and an ever-changing cast of tenants – and, in many cases, no tenants. Rarely was the shopping plaza fully occupied and parking was never an issue, meaning it was an easy place to stop and pick up supplies when you were visiting friends out that way.
As most students do, I eventually moved into an apartment, but I stayed close to campus in downtown and lived in Hiland Court Apartments. These apartments are located on the corner of West Foster Avenue and South Fraser Street. which meant soon after moving in we realized the State College High School football field – Memorial Field – was across the street (I know, how could you miss that when you were looking at the apartment?!). On some fall Friday nights, football games would be played there, and occasionally other sports as well.
My roommates and I were amused by the carnival atmosphere of the football games, but being “big-time” college students we didn’t pay much attention to the activities that went on aside from noting that the field was literally a pit; we could watch the games for free from the end zone (if we had wanted to do such a thing); it appeared to have no locker rooms; was nowhere near the school; and parking was a big challenge for those folks who did attend (our street would get swamped with cars). This was a drastically different high school football experience than we, and all our friends, were used to, but it wasn’t our high school, so who were we to judge.
Then in another year or two I eventually left Happy Valley to continue my life and career. When my wife, kids and I returned several decades later, we discovered, because our kids were getting involved in various athletic pursuits, that State College Area High School football field was essentially the same as when we left: difficult location, not-so-great facilities, no inside concession stands… the list goes on.
Luckily, within the last few years many of these issues have been rectified and, along with the complete renovation of the high school, there have been many great improvements to the athletic facilities both at the high school and at Memorial Field: lights and goalposts on the South Track field, a new turf field with lights on the north side of the high school campus, and huge improvements at Memorial Field which have made a wonderful upgrade to what many of us were concerned might have been the worst large-school high school stadium in the state. The renovations and additions brought locker rooms, inside concession stands, restrooms accessible to all fans without leaving the stadium and a press box with modern amenities.
But we still have a few minor issues that remain. Memorial Field is in downtown State College, and there is a certain segment of the Happy Valley population that will avoid downtown – especially on Friday nights, and even more so on Friday nights that coincide with Penn State home football games. Parking, although it has gotten better over the years with the addition of the Beaver Avenue parking garage, is still a turnoff for some people. And revenue generation from ticket sales is still impacted by the ability to stand above either end zone – remember, the field is in a pit – and watch games for free. Keep in mind the supposed best-seats-in-the-house in Beaver Stadium, the Club Seats, are in the endzone. Lastly, the student-athletes have to “travel” to their home games and can’t just walk to their field from the high school.
Granted, the improvements at Memorial Field and the other high school athletic facilities have moved State College from the proverbial bottom-of-the-barrel in the state to one of the better athletic setups for high schools. Yet, shouldn’t we want to be the best?
So in this holiday time of gift-giving and wish-making, here’s my wish for what the future of high school athletics in State College will bring…
Remember that Westerly Parkway Plaza shopping center I mentioned above that has never in its history been fully utilized, and as of today has about as many vacant storefronts as occupied ones? Well, it sits directly across from State College Area High School. A high school that was just completely renovated and will likely be used for at least another half-century. And a high school that is landlocked and has no additional ground on which to expand.
My wish, as Happy Valley is seeing apartment growth perhaps unlike at any time in its history, is that the State College Area School District purchase the plot of land that Westerly Plaza occupies before the property is turned into another apartment complex.
This will give the school district a little flexibility regarding future needs, since we’ll be using the high school for at least 50 years. In the meantime, they can continue to lease to the current tenants, tear down any under or non-used buildings, and use the lots as additional parking.
Then, in another 20 years or so, if the local powers-that-be at that time decide it might be nice to have a non-downtown large venue, and control parking and ticket sales at their premier athletic contests, guess what? The land where the Weis grocery store and its parking lot sit are conveniently more-than-enough space for a very nice athletic stadium!
The graphic below shows a Google map image of the current “lay of the land” on top. Below it shows the possibility of future uses of the land. Put in a stadium, eliminate O’Bryan Lane so the new property is physically connected to the high school property, put in a new street on the other side of the Weis, and Weis could build a new grocery store on the far side of the property.
Now, again, building such a field (or anything for that matter) is not something to happen in the next five or 10 years, especially with the wonderful new athletic upgrades we’ve recently experienced. But the only way something like this can happen down the road is if the school district owns the land. The shopping plaza land has spent decades waiting for better days and the school district could bring those better days to fruition – before an apartment landlord. They just have to act. I’m hoping the new school board members see the holiday light and make this wish a reality.
