Heinz is home: Aliquippa football field renamed Heinz Field following generous donation
ALIQUIPPA – It was often said that Heinz Field served as Aliquippa’s home away from home throughout the years.
After all, playing at the Steelers’ North Shore facility – now known as Acrisure Stadium – for a WPIAL championship seemed to be a yearly tradition for a program that owns a WPIAL-best 19 district titles.
Now, Heinz Field really is the Quips’ home.
The Kraft Heinz Company announced Tuesday that it will make a $1.3 million charitable donation and that Carl A. Aschman Stadium will now be called Heinz Field.
“Kraft Heinz is proud to call Pittsburgh home as our co-headquarters, and we’re excited to bring Heinz Field back to the community in a new and meaningful way,” said Carlos Abrams-Rivera, Executive Vice President and President, North America at Kraft Heinz, in a press release. “We look forward to seeing Heinz Field live on as part of the Aliquippa community.”
The donation will be a major driver for Phase 2 of the stadium complex renovation. The first phase featured roughly $4.5 million in upgrades to the stadium, which opened in 1937, but fell into disrepair over the years. Funded fully through bond refinancing and private and corporate donations, some highlights of the project include: new aluminum bleachers, lights, a video scoreboard, ADA-compliant entrance areas and an artificial turf playing surface.
Phase 2 will bring new resources to the community with the construction of an academic and athletic center attached to the new Heinz Field, also known as “The Pit.” The academic and athletic center will feature offices, lockers, weight rooms, training and therapy rooms, and a large collaborative creative space for hands-on learning. Community groups and local citizens will also have access to the flexible space and weight rooms for programs and classes.
“We are really looking forward to that, too. We’re still attempting to raise some additional funds for that facility,” Aliquippa football coach Mike Warfield said. “That facility could be used for after-school programs, summer programs. It’s for all sports – girls and boys. The facility will be a place everyone in the community can benefit from, especially the kids. It gives our youth something to do in the summer and after school. We are very appreciative of Kraft Heinz. It’s great that they agreed to collaborate with us. The kids are excited, and the community is excited. I am excited for them. It’s really a good day for all of us.”
Last fall, Aliquippa had to play its home games at Freedom High School during the field renovation, but still captured a WPIAL Class 4A championship and PIAA silver. The Quips will play at the new Heinz Field this fall, starting Sept. 1 against Armstrong. Construction of the new academic and athletic center is expected to be completed in 2025.
“Our beloved stadium has recently undergone a complete transformation, and we’re thrilled to continue this momentum with a new academic and athletic center for our students and community members in partnership with Kraft Heinz,” Aliquippa Superintendent Dr. Phillip Woods said in a statement. “We’re incredibly proud of our athletics program, which has the most Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League football titles in league history and three alumni in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Kraft Heinz’s donation will help us further our legacies together and will impact Aliquippa, a deserving community, for generations to come.”
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Heinz is home: Aliquippa football field renamed Heinz Field following generous donation
