Ingalls Field Gets New Life Ingalls Field Gets New Life

The 100-plus-year-old facility seemingly was gasping for its last breaths. That’s when the Ripon community stepped in, as it has done time and time again over the years. “Because it was an unsafe facility, it really rallied the community to say, ‘We need to fix this,’” Ernst says.

With the precision of a surgeon, a group of volunteers was led by local resident Warren “Sherm” Sherman (husband of former college development office administrative assistant Charlotte Sherman and father of alumni Dan Sherman ’76 and Diane Sherman Kraus ’78). They charted a road to recovery, secured the financial support to proceed and then — often with their own hands — rebuilt much of Ingalls Field.

“Under the leadership of Sherm and a lot of his workers, they did a great job to secure the funding,” Ernst says. “They got the field to where it needs to be, with a lot of hard work and volunteering time and financial support.”

Bill Neill ’67, interim vice president for development, says of the project, “I can’t imagine how we ever could have found enough financial support to have completed such a huge project without having all the help our citizens provided. The college is certainly pleased to have several very generous alumni who enthusiastically stepped forward with extra gifts to support this special project.”

Over the course of several months, 296 volunteers banded together at different times to build a new press box, install brighter field lights, reconstruct the concession stand/ticket booth, rewire the field and rebuild the visitor side bleachers.

One fall earlier, volunteers also replaced the deteriorating grass field surface with new sod as well.

The process wasn’t a new one for Sherman, who led Ingalls Field renovation projects on several instances during the past few decades. Back in the ’70s and early ’80s, he and many others helped install a new press box, bleachers, field lights and add a track. But during the years to follow, few major facelifts occurred. The field slipped from good, to adequate, to its recent state.

With the need clear, community volunteers linked arms with Ripon College and the Ripon School District to revitalize Ingalls Field.

Although the College gave up ownership of the facility to the school district years ago, it pledged to pay onethird of the $135,000 state loan needed to pay for the project on a 10-year note. “We wouldn’t have got it done without their contribution,” Sherman says. “We would have got some done, but not the way it is now. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it.”

But Ripon College’s role in the reconstruction efforts went beyond a simple fiscal offering. On several occasions students earned their stake in the facility. The Red Hawk football team that plays on the field most fall Saturdays