Niagara Falls Should Name Sports Complex After City’s Finest

There is a new state of the art sports complex being built behind Niagara Falls High School. The facility will have a new turf football and baseball stadium and numerous other fields for soccer, lacrosse and of course track. The project is being built under the expert supervision of Ron Shiesley, a great local athlete in his day and Parks Commissioner. Now the Niagara Falls Board of Education must decide what this new jewel for the Cataract City will be called?

This past week at a Niagara Falls Board of Education meeting it was suggested the school system sells the naming rights and raise some revenue. Niagara Falls Superintendent Cynthia Bianco was against the idea and preferred to name it by the school system’s name. The topic is still being debated and will be brought up again, so let me make a suggestion. 

Use this exciting complex to honor the greatest athletes who have played for that school and city. Try using the names of professional athletes from the Falls like Sal Maglie, Rick Manning, James Starks and Jonny Flynn. How about New York State wrestling champion Mel Cunningham or National Junior College Champion Willie Moore? You have St. Bona star John Hayes or Paul Harris who played a couple years at Syracuse and many, many more.

The project is being built with free Greenway money, at least free to the school system. The funds come from the New York Power Authority re-licensing agreement and have been used by Lew-Port for a similar project. Since the project is being built at no expense to the school system and local taxpayers maybe those who put Niagara Falls on the athletic map should be rewarded before a corporate sponsor. Just my two cents.

On a side note, Sal Maglie Stadium on Hyde Park Boulevard will no longer be the home of the High School’s football and baseball games once the complex is complete in the Spring of 2014. The City of Niagara Falls will be hard pressed to maintain it on their own. Hopefully the proud name of Sal Maglie will be transferred over to the new High School complex should the stadium on Hyde Park Boulevard falls into dis-repair.

 

Filed under: Koshinski's Korner

Tagged with: James Starks, Jonny Flynn, Niagara Falls, Niagara Falls High School, Sal Maglie, Wolverines