EAST BANK, W.Va. — The East Bank Middle School football team ran onto Calvert Field for the final time Thursday night for their game against Horace Mann.
East Bank, who recently saw the Kanawha County Board of Education vote to close their school at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year, was thought to be done with its home football schedule after the October 3 home game against Dunbar. That was before the Horace Mann Middle School administration stepped in.
The game was slated to be the final home game for Horace Mann, but the Eagles wanted to see the East Bank community enjoy their historic Calvert Field one more time.
Horace Mann Middle School Assistant Principal Brittany Harris says she got the idea to offer to move the game to Calvert Field when Athletic Director William Jewitt said East Bank should be honored.
“Our athletic director wanted to do something for East Bank, given their current situation, and through conversation, it just kind of popped in my head, let’s play it there (Calvert Field),” Harris said. “It’s one last opportunity for them to make memories, to add to their school’s legacy.”
Harris says she contacted the administration at East Bank and the offer was accepted with much appreciation.
“We want this to be your home game because we feel like, given your situation, it would make a lasting impact on your community,” Harris said to the East Bank staff. “One more opportunity for your kids to play on Calvert Field, one more opportunity to celebrate with the community, and they were overly joyed and appreciative,” Harris said.
Longtime East Bank High School Head Coach Neil Hopkins says it was a classy move to go above and beyond for an opposing team.
“It’s a lot of class by their school, by the kids and everything of moving the game here. That just doesn’t happen very often,” Hopkins said.
Mike Williams, a member of the 1971 and 1973 East Bank High School state championship teams, says the actions of the Horace Mann administration are admirable.
“My hat’s off to Horrace Mann,” Williams said. “That was a gracious thing to want to come up here and let us play our last game on our field, but they are the home team. I really admire them for being like that.”
Harris says the game being in East Bank means more to the Pioneer community than she’ll know.
“For us (Horace Mann), it’s still football, we’re still playing on a football field, but it means more to them to get to play on their home field,” Harris said. “Honestly, some things are just bigger than the game, and this is just one of those instances.”
Calvert Field has seen countless football games over the years, as it served as the field for East Bank High School before the school’s closure in 1999. Calvert Field hosted state championship winning teams in 1964 (AAA), 1971 (AAA), 1973 (AAA), 1989 (AA), 1990 (AA), 1993 (AA), and 1996 (AA).
Calvert Field stood strong in the East Bank community for north of 80 years, with strong, passionate crowds being a weekly occurrence. Butch Hughes, a former coach at East Bank, says the Pioneer faithful always made Calvert Field a tough place for the opposition to play.
“East Bank always, always had the crowds,” Hughes said. “The community always supported them. It was unbelievable how big the crowds were at some of these games.”
One of the final blows to Calvert Field outside of the recent vote to close East Bank Middle School, was the demolition of the grandstands and press box that were synonymous with the venue. The bleachers were condemned by Kanawha County Schools and torn down in August.
Hughes says seeing the bleachers go down hurt.
“When they took that thing down, part of me left,” Hughes said.
While the final game at Calvert Field Thursday did not draw the more than 10,000 fans like the stadium did for the matchup against Stonewall Jackson High School in 1973 when the Generals came to East Bank boasting the talent of future Super Bowl champion Walter Easley, the same passion and noise was brought by the fans sitting in the temporary bleachers and beds of pickup trucks.
Williams says the middle school students standing on the home sideline felt the emotion Thursday night.
“Those kids there on the sidelines, I saw a couple of them cry because they did not want to have to wear somebody else’s jersey next year,” Williams said.
Hughes says the game of football being taken away from the East Bank community is a sad reality.
“You just look around here at the people here in this community, how well they love football and how well they love their school, and all that’s going to be taken away. It’s sad, real sad,” Hughes said.