New scoreboard ready to light up for 2019 season
By Donnie A. Lucas
Fans of Albany Lion football will immediately notice a couple of new features at Robert Nail Memorial Stadium with the start of the 2019 season in a couple of weeks.
A new digital scoreboard with improved lighting has been installed over the summer, including the new dual designation as Robert Nail Memorial Stadium and Faith Field.
The addition of the field name was added by unanimous vote of the Albany ISD trustees at their February board meeting as a way of honoring the longtime AISD coach, who is coming up on his 300th career football win.
The new scoreboard is still awaiting the top portion of the sign that identifies the sponsor, the First National Bank of Albany/Breckenridge.
The original FNB signage is undergoing repairs and repainting of its own and will be added as soon as possible to the new portion that has already been installed.
Fans will notice the stadium and field names on an arched upper banner, along with the addition of a lower banner recognizing the field as the home of the Albany Lions.
“We are very grateful once again to First National Bank for funding the scoreboard,” superintendent Jonathan Scott said. “The previous equipment was somewhere in the 10 to 15-year-old range, but we no longer were able to get parts for it.”
Scott said that the new scoreboard is digital and features brighter LED lights, whereas the older board used traditional light bulbs and wiring components that are obsolete.
“When they did the installation a couple of weeks ago, we tested the lights with the afternoon sun shining on it and the numbers were much easier to read,” Scott said. “Fans should be able to read it much more clearly, even if the setting sun is shining directly on it.”
Scott added that he is having metal artist/sculptor Joe Barrington of Throckmorton construct metal signage to be placed on top of the press box with the stadium and field names at the instruction of the school board.
Barrington is also repairing the vintage top sponsorship portion of the board that includes the FNB logo featuring neon lighting. The local bank has sponsored several scoreboards at the field over the years, with the original FNB sign being retained.
The new scoreboard is completely operational, and the school hopes that the sponsorship sign will be installed in time for the first home game on Sept. 6.
