New video board enhances fan experience at Bartlesville's Custer Stadium
During its first 54 years of existence, Bartlesville High School's Custer Stadium underwent few, if any, changes that could be considered major.
But since 2008 — the first year a turf field replaced grass — it seems as if the facility has been on a lightning-fast track of modernization. The latest innovation is the new movie-screen-sized video board, which made its debut during last Friday's thrilling 31-28 football victory against Putnam City West High.
Custer opened to much fanfare in 1954 — the field was baptized that year by the magnificent play of future NFL All-Pro players David Baker and Bobby Joe Green, both members of the class of 1955 for Bartlesville College High School.
With the exception of the addition of a small press-box and a few track resurfacings, Custer retained pretty much the identical look for more than 50 seasons, through 2007.
In many ways, the basic layout remains the same. But the upgrades over the past 15 years that have transformed it into an outdoor sports utopia include:
1) The installation of turf on the playing field
2) The addition of chair-back seating in the home stands
3) The laborious installation of a new track, including the removal of old asphalt underneath the surface
4) The repositioning of the track & field event stations, such as the long jump pit, shot put area, etc.
5) The construction of an a new Moby Dick-large press-box
6) The construction of new visitor’s stands
7) The new video scoreboard for the football/soccer field and a new scoreboard in the Bruin Fieldhouse.
Those are only part of the district’s ambitious efforts to improve the playing venues around town. For example, infield turf has been installed both at Bill Doenges Memorial Baseball Stadium and the Lady Bruin Softball Field.
High school football: Bartlesville vs. Stillwater rematch tops menu of Week 7 area games
In addition, new king-sized indoor practice facilities for baseball, softball and golf have been constructed.
There also has been a new football locker room built and major expansion of the high school weight room facilities. Other ancillary upgrades over the past half-dozen years included completely rebuilding the tennis courts — located just north of Custer Stadium — and a new windscreen around the courts.
Of course, many of these major improvements are a result of money raised by bonds. Not so with the new scoreboards at Custer and the Bruin Fieldhouse.
“The total cost for both was about $800,000,” said Bartlesville athletic/activities director Thad Dilbeck. “And, that’s all privately funded. We have gotten commitments from private businesses — small business and big business.”
Businesses will run ads on the movie-screen big display, “which is how we’ll pay for the board,” Dilbeck said.
The video board at Custer is meant to enhance the experience for the fans.
“Certainly, we wanted to add to the game-day appearance,” he said. “We certainly didn’t want it to be a distraction. It not just football that gets the benefit of the board, but track will benefit from it, as far as soccer and their fans.”
The video board made its sparkling debut last Friday with a player-by-player introduction of the Bruin football players. During the game, the board showed the game from a variety of angles, including grass level, as well as focusing on the crowd, cheerleader and other related shots.
“It already enhanced it (the game experience) a ton last Friday,” said Bartlesville public announcer and Bartlesville Sports Commission Chairman Chris Batchelder, adding this is the third-largest video board in the state on a high school field. “I couldn’t believe how bright and clear that thing is. I took a video of it with my phone. … It’s remarkable.”
Fans will see something new at this Thursday’s game — replays.
“This next week, it will have a replay capability,” Batchelder added. “I’m excited about that.”
What makes this board especially unique is that is fully run by Bartlesville High students, under the direction of Scott Vermiere. The students operate the controls in a dedicated room in the press box while others are stationed down on the field with cameras.
“The podcast kids … that are running it will be prepared for all types of opportunities (after their high school years,” Batchelder added. “It’s really neat.”
All the upgrades to the stadium should also be a selling point for players who want to transfer to consider Bartlesville, Batchelder continued. “It (Custer Stadium) is obviously not as big as some of the other 6A stadiums, but I think our venue competes with any in 6A-II and many in 6A-I.”
Although the video board might the final big-ticket improvement for a few years, Dilbeck is looking for more modest upgrades to the athletic program.
“Certainly, it’s a never-ending process,” he said. “We want to continue to improve the weight room facilities and continue to grow the weight room facilities for middle schoolers. We want to continue to make sure our gym surfaces are in good shape. We want our athletes to have the best tools they can to be successful. … I always say when a facility is crowded it’s a good problem to have.”
Dilbeck said he feels most proud about another new twist to the sports program — even though it didn’t cost anything except for reworking some coaches’ schedules. That change is moving middle school sports practices to early in the morning rather than after school, which allows the high school coaches to have more of a role in training the young talents.
“We’ve also added a middle school strength and conditioning coach so the kids and learn about the weight room at a younger age,” Dilbeck said.
From the opening of the Bruin Fieldhouse in 2005 to the newest show on turf in 2008 to the video scoreboard in 2023, Bartlesville’s sports facilities have undergone incredible changes — but the grit, scrap, dedication and life’s lessons imparted by the athletic programs appears to remain definitely old school.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: New video board enhances experience at Bartlesville's Custer Stadium
