The process of moving the sports records from the previous high school to the new high school has been challenging. Records, both individual and team ones, are important to the history of Eaton High School (EHS) sports and the community.
As described by EHS Athletic Director Zac Lemon, records are “a monument of sports at EHS,” and finalizing the boards and being able to display them remains an important goal and task for the complete transition into the new high school building.
The process began during the 2021-22 school year. EHS Athletic Director, Zac Lemon said, “[During construction] they took down all the old records and stored them in district storage knowing that [the boards] were all different. What I know is part of the new school’s plan was to unify all the new boards and take all the old record boards’ information and add it to the new one.”
Once the work to transition the athletic records began, coaches oversaw the duty of compiling the records and submitting them to Lemon.
Longtime softball coach at EHS, Chad Shaw, said, “For many of the sports, such as softball, we did not have a record board at the old EHS; the big element was putting together a complete record list for the sports that did not have one, so that took some time and effort. But it was time well spent in my opinion.”
One challenge of the process was the placement and configuration of the new record boards on the wall above the north stairs at EHS. “Simple things like access were challenging. We had to build a platform that went on the stairs that a ladder could get on, because the lift couldn’t get all of them. The way the records actually went into the board was also inconvenient, so we had to problem-solve,” said Lemon.
Lemon and former EHS teacher Tessa Ochsner brainstormed ways to complete displaying the record boards. Ochsner said, “We decided to use a Cricut machine to create the records out of vinyl. The slips of white paper are very difficult to get in and out of the boards, especially when the boards are 15-20 feet up the wall above the stairs outside of the main gym. Initially, we took all of the boards down off the wall to complete them since there are so many records to fill in on each board. After the boards are hung back up on the wall beginning sometime this week, it will be easier for Mr. Lemon to peel off the vinyl of an old record in order to replace it with the new school record while the board is hanging on the wall.”
Additionally, during the transition from the old high school to the new high school, EHS was in the midst of an athletic director change from Steve Longwell to Lemon. This transition also may have contributed to the hold-up.
Coach Shaw said, “It seemed as though the transition between athletic directors slowed the process. I think Longwell had a plan, and Lemon may have not known the plan or was wrapped up in all the elements of his position as AP and AD to get it going.” While this may have had an effect on the process, EHS seems to be on the right track of getting the records displayed.
The empty record boards at EHS have been taken down from the wall and are in the process of being prepared to be displayed. Lemon said, “We knew it was easiest to take them down and do it. We have created a document with every sport and all the records, shared the document with all the current coaches, and now we are getting all the new records put on. Hopefully, we’ll have it hung back up again in the next couple of weeks.”
This comes as good news for the EHS and Eaton community as the record boards emit a sense of pride and honor within the community, “The athletic record boards are part of our Eaton Reds legacy. They are something that students and community members can be proud of because they show the hard work, dedication, determination and talent of our student athletes over the years. Also, a few of our current students have family members who hold school records, so it will be fun and special for these students to see the names of their relatives on the boards,” said Ochsner.
Records remain important to athletes and students at EHS to view, and once completed, the record boards will serve as another Eaton athletic “monument.”