Raise the Roof – Marshfield

Webmaster apology.  I just found this story in a hidden part of our feedback loop:

Pete had a great influence on my life. Here’s a story.

In 1952, my freshman year, Marshfield had a tremendous undefeated football team: Tom Crabtree, Quincy Powers, Spike Hillstrom, etc. Opened the season with a 76-0 win over Myrtle Point and were the undefeated heavy favorites to win the state championship when underdog Benson Tech came to Coos Bay for the semi-finals.

But stuff happens in life and Marshfield lost (14-7?). I was devastated. I cried. Twenty minutes after the game I went into the locker room not knowing what to expect. This was the worst thing that had happened to me in my 14 years on this earth. I couldn’t imagine how Pete Susick would take the loss. Would he be angry and perhaps shut away in his little office, possibly too emotional to speak to anyone? No, there he was, standing among a small group of reporters, dry-eyed, smiling and chatting amiably. I was dumbfounded. Didn’t he care? 

There would be no trip to Portland, no game in Multnomah Stadium, no pictures on the Oregonian sports page. It had to be a huge disappointment.

Of course he cared, but I was still confused. Well, it took a while but my tiny freshman brain finally figured it out. It was a life lesson I never forgot. Pete had gone ashore under fire in Okinawa and was wounded in battle. Losing a high school football game was way, way down on his list of bad things that can happen in life. Compared to Okinawa this was cake.

I went on to work in professional sports for 14 years (Oakland Raiders, Golden State Warriors) and never, ever again shed a tear over a loss…including a Super Bowl.

Note to Gary Haliski: Loved your dad. A gentle and kind man, great coach and my PE teacher for a couple of years. Never saw him after high school but thought about him many times. Note to Mary Paczesniak: Walt (I’m assuming you were related to him) was my all-time favorite Marshfield teacher. Wonderful sense of humor. Made American history fun. Susick, Haliski, and Paczesniak are three memorable guys I was so very fortunate to be around as a kid. I’ve met a lot of coaches in my time (the year he was Raider linebacker coach, John Madden was my road roommate) but none with the character and values of these three.

There’s lots of activity going on this fall to complete our Raise the Roof Project – physical work at the stadium, design of the ADA walkways and grant writing.  Thanks for all of your support so far.

1. Electricity and internet cable will be brought over from the Drama Building.  Wiring will be completed in each of the viewing boxes.  This should happen in the next few weeks.

2. Freeman and Sons will do drywall and texture work in all the boxes.  This will be after the electrical work is completed.

3. Trim work will be installed on the doors going into the viewing boxes.  This will match the trim work on the viewing box windows.

4. We hope to have renderings of the ADA Walkways from Joe Slack in the next few weeks.  We will reach out to vendors to develop the ADA Walkway budget. 

5. Mary, Sue, and Nancy will start working on the OSAA Grant for us. 

6. Boyd, Barbara, and Bill will finish the Coos Foundation Grant Request.

7. Butch will help us with painting the railings.

8. Keenan Holte will check on possible theatre seats for the viewing boxes.

9. When electrical and drywall is completed, a group of us will install the madrone wood planks for the accent wall in each viewing box.
10. Bill McNutt will reach out to MHS construction class about building the ticket booth for us.  Thanks BASA for this donation

The above makes for an exciting fall. Go Pirates!

Our Raise the Roof committee recently received good news in the form of a $25,000 grant to help in the addition of ADA walkways to the south Susick Stadium grandstands.  The walkway will stretch from the Waterfall Clinic to the upper stands.  

ADA accessibility is a necessary feature of our Raise the Roof project.  Those who use the walkway will have great views of football, track and filed and soccer events that occur on Kent Wigle Field and Prefontaine Track.

Thank You to the committee for acquiring this grant and moving this project along.  The new roof has been in place since early this year.  The viewing boxes are nearly complete.  We are on hold temporarily due to COVID-19 interruptions, but have a lot of work lined out for when we get the green light.

John Gunther of The World published an article on the Raise the Roof project on June 30th.  It’s very exciting.  For those of you who haven’t been able to see the project unfold over the past 3 and a half years, you would be impressed by the new roof and viewing rooms.  There’s more to come: internet and wifi for the announcers, restrooms and ADA accessibility.

Please read the article: A lot of alumni are mentioned for work in the last month including

• Bill McNutt ’75
• Steve McNutt ’65
• Boyd Bjorkquist ’73
• Bob Jenkins ’65
• Don Jenkins ’62
• Chal Holte ’69
• Keenan Holte ’67
• Jeremy Bourell ’99
• Casey Waterman ’96
• Julie Nix ’79

Thanks to those mentioned above and to the many cash donors and in-kind donors.  We couldn’t have come this far without you.  In-kind donors have provided the material and labor to get a lot of the job completed and the cash donors have helped pay for the portions that required cash help.

We’ll need more donations as we begin phase 3.  We need to polish off a few more items, including ADA accessibility from the upper parking lot on the south side.  If you can, please donate to our Raise the Roof project and join the list of donors.  If you have already donated, please consider another donation.

Thank You Pirates!!!!

Thanks to Jeremy Bourell Of Bourell Construction and his crew are doing the viewing box framing this week.

Construction has begun on the five viewing boxes.

Jeremy Bourell Of Bourell Construction and his crew are doing the viewing box framing.

Glass windows for the front of the viewing boxes have been donated by Julie Nix Vice President Of Medallion Industries in Portland Oregon.  Julie is a Marshfield High Graduate. 

Once the viewing boxes are framed, Casey Waterman  from Electrical Specialty will do the electrical rough in for us.  Casey is also a Marshfield High graduate.

Thank you, donors!!!

The new roof is almost complete and we’ll soon move on to Phase 3 of the project. Phase 3 includes adding wheelchair access to the new stands and wheelchair seating in some primo spots.

We’d like to update you with the current status of the Class Challenge for Pete’s classes.

No one has come close to the Class of 1965. They are the captains of this Pirate Fundraising Ship.

Two other classes have reached the Gold level – $5,000 or more. Four classes have reached the Purple level – $2,500 to $4,999.

The classes of ’53, ’73’ and ’66 are just a bit short of the Purple level. Help get them to the Purple or Gold level.

Donations of any amount are appreciated – no amount is too small. Recognition Plaque’s start at $100. Click Here for Details. You can donate now by clicking on the yellow Donate button on our website (scroll to the top and you’ll see the button on the right). The Donate button will take you to PayPal. You can pay via PayPal or a credit card and can sign in as a guest of PayPal without registering.

Here’s a list of Pirate’s who have stepped up to support the Raise the Roof project with cash donations. Raise the Roof Donors.

The MHS Boosters is a 501(c)(3) organization and you donations may be tax deductible. Consult your tax advisor to determine the deductibility of your donation.

Here’s a link to a great article in The World about the Raise the Roof project.  This phase, Phase 2, should be finished around Thanksgiving.  That’s something to be thankful about.

Our next phase of fundraising, as pointed out in the article, will complete the project -including ADA access and wheelchair seating areas.  Susick Stadium currently does not have wheelchair seating in the south stands.

Once again we give thanks to our donors, both large and small.  We could not have come so far without you.

There must be a hardy wind behind the sails of the crane crew and roof crew.  The roof seems to be taking new shape by the hour.