If you build it, they will come. A phrase used in the 1989 baseball
classic, “The Field of Dreams,” most definitely fit the situation of
the long-anticipated installation of the new turf field at John C. Larson
Stadium in Arlington, and the exciting opening home football game against
Eastside Catholic. Friday night, it seemed as if the entire town of
Arlington was in attendance to see the christening of the new field and
the Friday night lights shined down brightly on the golden “A” in the
middle of the turf. A pre-game ceremony was held honoring the first
responders and victims of the Oso landslide, and every Arlington football
player in attendance could be seen with their fist in the air as the
framed jersey of an Arlington Youth Football player, Jovan “Jojo”
Mangual, whose life was taken by the landslide, was carried down the
50-yard line and presented to the crowd for a moment of silence. On top of
that, an NFL grant of $200,000 was presented to the school via a Seattle
Seahawks executive for renovations to the football field. After this very
emotional opening ceremony, Arlington took on Eastside Catholic and the
2014-2015 football season was underway.
The story of the opening night on the turf is widely known
in Arlington, now that the night has passed, and is surely one to be
remembered. But the story that hasn’t been told is what made that night
on the shiny new turf possible. During the summer, while all of the
students at Arlington High school were relaxing and enjoying their 3 month
break, the old grass at John C. Larson Stadium was being removed and torn
up to prepare for the installation of the new turf.
With a price tag of 1.1 million dollars, the installation
was not cheap. The cost covered the installation of the new turf field and
additions to the softball field. The project started on June 23rd and was
finished on August 25th. The working crew varied day to day from just one
worker to eight, depending on the type of job being done. The process of
the installation started with the old grass being removed, followed by the
drainage system being checked. After this, the foundation layer was laid
down, and the ground was then rolled in order to make it flat. After the
flattening of the surface, the turf was placed down. The turf came in
rolls and the different sections had to be sewn together and nailed down
at the edges. The turf looks like pretty grass, but at the base of the
green turf, is a combination of sand and rubber that act as a filler. Some
complications occurred along the way. Such as, the shot-put section
of the field being done wrong, and the netting system for soccer had
to be redone. Besides these few hiccups, the installation went smoothly
and was completed in a very timely fashion with quite a small crew.

The process has been explained but the question still remains. Why turf?

Arlington, until this year, was the last 4A football team
without a turf field in the western half of Washington. This restricted Arlington from hosting its own district playoff
games, and the team has been forced to play playoff games elsewhere due to
WIAA rules. Tom Roys, the Athletic Director at Arlington High School was
interviewed on the subject of the turf, due to the fact that he oversaw
the majority of the process. “Our field was a mudhole,” Roys said, “We owed it to our kids. It
is the level of care our kids deserve.”
Surely, the Arlington Football players will be receiving
the level of care they deserve on that beautiful turf field during the
rest of this years season and in many seasons to come. Not only has the
turf given Arlington High School and John C. Larson Stadium a new look, it
has redefined and reinvented Arlington Football as a whole.