By Kyle Nagel Dayton Daily News Staff Writer
Steve Alexander placed his first child in Centerville High School in 1984. That year, his son, Scot, earned a slot on the varsity football team, and Alexander quickly learned the value of the reserved seating section.
“The first time we sat in the general admission seats, and I said, ‘This isn’t gonna happen again,’ ” Alexander said. “We were there to watch the game, and the students around us were there to watch each other.”
Alexander plopped down a few dollars for reserved tickets, and he hasn’t stopped since. Like many area high school football fans, Alexander is a longtime season-ticket holder and continues to attend Centerville games for the passion of the community, the inexpensive entertainment and the enjoyment of comparing teams and players to past incarnations.
“It’s fun to go to a game and say, ‘OK, this is 2009, how does it compare to the Class of ’92?’ ” Alexander said. “It helps you know the community.”
Area athletic directors, meanwhile, continually search for the best ways to serve their ticket-holders with requested seats, ease in parking, access to potential playoff tickets and other niceties.
At Northmont, Athletic Director Robin Spiller tries to ensure the parents of band members get high seats so they can easily view the formations.
At Wayne, the athletic department is planning to form a committee to ensure its season-ticket holders get fair treatment when the school opens new home stands and a new press box for next season.
Athletic director and football coach Jay Minton said the stands will have a combination of seat backs and indented seats for more comfort.
In Beavercreek, athletic director and girls basketball coach Ed Zink stresses to fans that a $65 adult season pass is a bargain because, just for fall sports, the school will host about 33 events that cost mostly $6 each.
At Fairmont, where 1,201 of the approximately 7,000 football stadium seats are reserved, Athletic Director Brian Donoher said the school is trying to make things easier for fans by adding two hand-held scanners for pass-holders.
“Plus we haven’t raised our prices,” Donoher said. “Everything is pretty much the same, including how many buyers we have.”
Some aren’t buyers at all. Several districts, including Miamisburg and Beavercreek, offer complimentary all-sports passes to residents of a certain age (60 and 65, respectively).
Students are considered, also. In Centerville, a $125 student activity pass also grants entry into school plays, a yearbook and subscription to the school newspaper.
“Sometimes the season sneaks up on people,” said Mark Hughes, the Oakwood athletic director. “We have a soccer game, and we’ll sell a few quick passes because they realize the sports season is here.”
Many of those buyers rely on the high school events to catch up with friends with whom they otherwise don’t connect. That makes the atmosphere of high school athletics a unique community meeting place, school officials and ticket buyers said.
“We can talk about how our kids are doing, where they’re in school now, what jobs they have now, all kinds of things,” Alexander said. “We can go out after the game and have something to eat, because we mostly see these people during the sports seasons.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com
