Jun. 17—Rash Stadium has been around a long time behind Owensboro High School.
The site of so many great Red Devil football victories, Rash Stadium is nearly 100 years old.
That means there needs to be a little touch-up work from time to time at the venerable facility.
OHS is hosting St. Xavier to start the 2021 season on Aug. 20. It will be a big draw early in the season that will get some state-wide attention. St. X is a Class 6-A state power and it will be going against top-level quarterback Gavin Wimsatt and the rest of the Red Devils.
OHS was the Class 5-A state runner-up last season.
The south wall at Rash, on the Ford Avenue side, needed a new paint job, so the coaching staff at OHS was joined by some parents for a quick Rash fix up earlier this week.
“Our maintenance department does a great job, but it’s stretched,” OHS football coach Jay Fallin said. “Owensboro Public Schools have some great historic buildings, and they need maintenance.
“Rash Stadium is a historic place, it’s a great place, and we take great pride in taking care of it. It’s a wonderful stadium that is very old.”
Some parents helped pressure wash the wall, then the coaching staff went to painting work after a couple of morning workouts and got the job done.
“We got out there and got a couple of coats of paint on it,” Fallin said. “We tell the players all the time, if something needs to be done, don’t look around for somebody else to do it, take care of it yourself.
“We were happy as a staff to do it. These are very professional guys I coach with, and this is probably one of those things the average Joe doesn’t see. They just see the guys with the headsets on the sidelines. Maybe they doesn’t the see painting of the wall on Ford Avenue, or giving a kid a ride to and from practice, being a mentor, a high school football coach wears many hats.”
Fallin and the OHS staff understands that athletic facilities, especially on campus, are like the front porch for the school to the community.
A few years ago in the offseason, the coaching staff, athletic director Todd Harper, other alumni and supporters of the football program helped paint the exterior of the stadium.
Marcus Kimbrell has been an assistant coach at Owensboro High School for more than decade total. He thought the painting project was a good chance for the coaching staff to do something for the facility where they spend so much time.
“It’s a very unique place,” Kimbrell said. “The new stadiums are really cool, but at Rash there’s nothing like it because it’s a different feel in there.”
Some OHS coaches, like Drew Hall, Scott Hogg and Blake Roberts, also played football at the school.
They likely didn’t think when they were in high school they’d be back as assistant coaches, helping take care of the team and the stadium where they grew up.
“You have a tie there,” Kimbrell said. “It’s a unique thing.”