Pioneer Stadium Suits Many

Originally Published: Sep 9, 2009 4:50 PM CDT

Curt Hill
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

STILLWATER, Oklahoma -- Women won’t be waiting in long lines at restrooms in Stillwater High School’s Pioneer Stadium.

"My wife, that's the first thing she asked me. (She said) there better be enough restroom facilities because I don't want to be waiting in lines,” Athletic Director Butch Lingenfelter said. “There's 52 (women’s) stalls on the home side and half that many on the visitors side.”

The abundance of “facilities” is just one perk in the new $21 million facility that was built with everyone in mind.

And everyone is ready to use it.

"Everyday somebody comes up and asks me, 'Is the stadium finished? What’s new? What’s going on?,'” Head Coach Rusty Atkins said with a smile on his face.

“It’s amazing,” Quarterback Jerame Littell said when referring to the stadium. “We can't wait to get into it. We wish it was Friday night already.”

You can't blame residents for being excited. Two years have passed since the $31 million bond issue was approved. During that span, residents anxiously waited as faculty and architects toured stadiums and tailored the 6,000-seatfacility for its location. They considered everything from workspace to the needs of those living in surrounding neighborhoods.

“This is where our old practice field was, so we weren't sure if everything was going to fit. But it sure fits,” Atkins said.

“The light reflectors we have here, they are for one place, so there's very little splash light into the neighborhoods,” Lingenfelter said.

Once the planning was finished, the fun began as local contractors constructed a stadium with several unique features. Some of those features include a playing surface with a state-of-the-art drainage system, a two-story press box, a separate student section, and a $750,000 videoboard with replay capabilities.

The stadium also has an amenity that even Boone Pickens Stadium does not offer.

“The blue (reserved) seats we have here are 21 inches wide, which is actually two inches wider than those at Oklahoma State” Lingenfelter said. “So if you happen to need that extra room, that's something else most stadiums don’t have.”

In addition to sporting events, the schoolwill usethe facility during classes.

“Physics classes, science classes. If they need a tall place to drop things, they’re going to be here,” Lingenfelter said. “Our video and audio classes, given the types of media equipment we have, are going to utilize a lot of this building.”

So, whether you are a student using the field, a reporter using the press box, a fan in the stands, or a fan taking a restroom break, Pioneer Stadium has something for everyone.

Pioneer Stadium by the Numbers

230,000 - bricks
62,000 - cement blocks
22,000 - cubic yards of excavation
7,000 - cubic yards of concrete
6,000 - number of watts used by PA System
5,539 - linear feet of PVC pipe
5,321 - linear feet of copper pipe
2,995 - feet of fire sprinkler line
1,500 - linear feet of Trench Drains
1,200 - buckets of paint
715 - linear feet of air conditioning duct
255 - tons of structural steel
181 - linear feet of gas line piping
180 - tons of structural steel
105 - pieces of glass
90 - approximate average of people on the Jobsite at any time
89 - doors
52 - number of sub-contractors and suppliers used in the Project
18 - storm drains