They went and did it. The Saint Louis Crusaders began the first phase of the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletic Center with an official ground-breaking ceremony this morning.
Construction is already underway for the new weight room, which will be situated on the ground level of the new parking garage. Athletic Director Ed Paola said the lockerrooms will be built after that, along with a new gymnasium that will be located where the current lockerrooms are. Brother Gerber Fieldhouse is long gone.
Among the contributors to the new facility are Dwight Otani (class of 1973) of D. Otani Produce and former All-Pro center Olin Kruetz (class of ’95) of the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints.
“I feel good,” said Kreutz, one of the donors. “Every generation, we understand we’ll help when we can.”
Kreutz is optimistic about the future for Saint Louis, which had recent fiscal issues.
“I think the school is strong. They’ve run into some problems, but I think they’ll come through it. A lot of people are trying to help, and if everybody comes together, we’ll be fine,” he said.
Is Cal Lee or Rich Miano going to be the next Saints football coach?
Miano would be good, he got lot of experience recruiting high school FB players to Kaiser, would be natural fit to continue to do so at St. Louis.