The Roanoke Times: Victory Stadium

They said Victory Stadium's demolition would hit them like a slap in the face. On Saturday morning, a small group of football players from years recent and past gathered at Victory Stadium to express support for renovating the 60-year-old facility. Among them were Lee Suggs, 22, who will soon join the training camp for the Cleveland Browns, and Sherley Stuart, 66, who played for Lucy Addison High School in the 1950s and later coached for both Addison and William Fleming high schools.

Suggs, a star at Fleming and Virginia Tech, and Stuart said Victory Stadium's history is rich with tradition.

"This past year, my grandson had the opportunity to play on this field," Stuart said. "And he was so proud of it because his granddaddy played on it 51 years ago."

The Citizens for a Sensible Stadium Decision organized Saturday's press event. The group is mustering an 11th-hour campaign to halt construction of a new $18 million stadium / amphitheater off Orange Avenue so that funds for that facility can be spent instead on renovating Victory Stadium.

Brian Wishneff, a consultant who was once the city's chief of economic development, is one spokesman for the group. Wishneff said Saturday that a related petition drive has gathered about 1,000 signatures to date.

The petition asks Roanoke City Council to let voters decide in a fall referendum whether more than $17 million from bonds already sold for construction of the new facility should be used for that purpose.

Late last week, the city opened bids from companies vying for the contract for the grading and site preparation that would precede actual construction. That site work could begin in mid-July.

Wishneff said he believes there's still time to persuade members of the city council to let voters decide whether to proceed with the new stadium or renovate the old.

Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, also participated Saturday.

"I think there is a lot of support for restoring and renovating Victory Stadium," Edwards said. "Tearing it down makes no sense."

The city council has not voted on what would happen to Victory Stadium if the new stadium / amphitheater is built. But tentative plans described for a new mixed-use development along the Roanoke River would probably require the stadium's demolition.

J.R. Word, who played with Suggs at William Fleming, said Saturday that he and others who have played football there will be dismayed if the stadium is torn down.

"It would be a disgrace," Word said. "It would be a slap in the face to all of us. Sometimes you just need to have respect for the past."

Rick Harman, 47, played tight end and safety on a state championship football team from Patrick Henry High School and later played defensive back for Virginia Tech. Harman said the stadium is worthy of restoration.

"It's a legend; it's a landmark," Harman said. "It should be preserved as much as any other landmark in Roanoke. And as far as a unique setting, there's nothing more unique than this - at the base of Mill Mountain, at the river's edge. There are not many settings in America that can compare to this."

But city officials have said renovation estimates as well as the stadium's proximity to the Roanoke River and vulnerability to flooding helped persuade them to build a new stadium off Orange Avenue along Interstate 581. They have also said the new site would have better highway access and that the combined-use stadium / amphitheater could host both concerts and high school football games.

On Saturday, Wishneff and Sherman Lea, who once served together on the Roanoke School Board, reiterated their belief that the city's flood control project would stop all but the highest flows from affecting Victory Stadium.

They argued that Victory Stadium's renovation could be achieved for half the cost of the new facility if historic tax credits helped offset costs.

They said inherent design flaws would plague a new facility that tries to be both stadium and amphitheater and cited potential traffic snarls in the Williamson Road and Orange Avenue area.

Wishneff, who was active in the successful effort to restore Hotel Roanoke, said Victory Stadium probably means as much or more to many Roanokers.

"No structure in Roanoke has created more memories for more Roanokers, from more diverse backgrounds, over the years than Victory Stadium," he said.