Boards approve plan to revamp seating at Big Oaks
Robbinsville – Friday Night Lights might get to create a familiar glow in Robbinsville after all.
Since harrowing details about the precarious conditions of the home bleachers at Big Oaks Stadium were first publicly revealed at the May 2 Graham County Board of Education, the community has held its breath – waiting to hear whether repairs could be made in time for the 2023 season opener.
A collective sigh of relief could be heard June 29, as a special joint meeting of both the boards of commissioners and education announced plans to tear down the 41-year-old, concrete bleachers and install aluminum seating. The idea came as a byproduct of local businesses Adams Contracting, K & B Land Clearing, and Lovin Contracting rallying together for what was estimated to be a $150,000 donation – in regards to labor and equipment.
The meeting inside the Robbinsville High School Auditorium concluded around 11:30 a.m.; by 1:45 p.m., a Caterpillar 330 Excavator began digging into the perilous seating arrangement. A small crowd of around 20-30 spectators rotated through glimpses of history unfolding before their eyes; 41 years of stomping, jumping and cheering from the Black Knights’ faithful had finally met its match: Father Time.
Since the installation of the bleachers in 1981, Robbinsville has won six of its 14 state championships. Now with just 40 calendar days between the beginning of repairs and the last day anyone can appear at Big Oaks Stadium to install bleachers (Aug. 8), the unity being displayed to help make what originally seemed unlikely a reality is remarkable.
However, for anyone who knows Graham County, community support is really just another day at the office.
“This couldn’t happen if it wasn’t for the work of a whole lot of people; these are very concerned and very generous sponsors from our community, and the good working relationship we have between both of these boards and our staff,” Superintendent Angie Knight said at the conclusion of the June 29 joint meeting. “I think that this is the right decision. Football is not just football; it affects our whole community.
“We’re fortunate to have a community where lots of things pull us together, and Friday night football is one of those things. It’s really important that the community have the time to get together and we pride ourselves on being a close community.”
“If we look at it holistically, not having home football games in Graham County – I don’t know if we could really quantify the economic impact that would have on our community,” commission Chair Jacob Nelms added. “It would probably cost a lot more money than these bleachers cost, so I think it’s a no-brainer.”
Timeline
Assistant superintendent Robert Moody provided a detailed packet on June 29, which helps paint a picture of how quickly the problem developed – though Knight, Moody and others have warned for years that pre-planning for construction of a new stadium (ostensibly to be placed on the campus at Robbinsville High School) needed to begin sooner rather than later.
The concrete “bleachers” that were placed on the hill above the field were not actually bleachers at all – rather, they are believed to be bridge beams, donated to the cause. The first real maintenance work concerning the seating was performed around 2013, when the top rows were removed to allow a retaining wall to be poured for what was deemed “settlement issues.”
Hand rails were installed just a few years ago and in 2019 – along with upgrades that included new visitor-side seating, restrooms and repairs to various drainage issues – new steps were poured in-between sections of the home-seating area.
In 2021, the bleachers were professionally inspected and no shifting was found. Though not a requirement, Graham County Schools’ maintenance department typically inspects the bleachers 1-2 times a year: and it was during the fall 2022 walkthrough that dangers became apparent.
It is unclear just how many rows were improperly placed, but the beams were meant to extend over the row below onto a lip – which would support the stacked structure. Correct protocol would have dictated a roughly 1-foot space between a row and the connection of the row above; it appeared from the June 29 demolition that very few were set as needed to begin with.
Getting underneath the bleachers was a task in itself; a tiny opening meant crawling in and then being able to walk around underneath. The fall 2022 inspection revealed spots of daylight pouring through; cracks in the beams; and one area had actually dropped to the row below. The bottom row was perhaps the most frightening to look at, with sizable gaps that came after shouldering a heavy 41-year load.
“With the stress cracks and the shifts, if one of the bottom ones go (break away), it will create a domino effect and the whole thing will fall,” Moody explained at a special called board meeting May 25. Caught in the middle of the season, maintenance workers jacked up the lower tier of bleachers and installed steel plates – which provided a temporary fix to a long-term problem.
Two different bleacher inspection/repair companies were contacted shortly thereafter; when one finally arrived on site, he refused to complete an inspection. Asheville-based Kloesel Engineering was the last hope and after doing a proper inspection May 15, deemed the bleachers “unfit to use.”
COVID had forced the year-end gatherings for the baccalaureate and graduation ceremonies to be moved to the football field; in the wake of the engineer’s decree just three years later, those exercises were hastily shifted back to their former respective homes of Robbinsville First Baptist Church and the high school. In the meantime, the school board promised another special-called meeting would be held as soon as Kloesel’s report with a recommendation for repair was received – and this time, the board of commissioners would be in attendance, to discuss the best step forward: both fiscally and sensibly.
Kloesel’s rundown for repairs was expected to arrive by June 23; the meeting was moved to June 27 after the report was not received in time. The boards were forced to wait two more days to digest the engineer’s report once it finally popped into the inboxes of those involved.
“As we walked through his design, it became pretty clear that it would be very expensive repairs and it probably would not be something feasible for us to do in our limited timeframe that we’re up against,” Nelms said. “Ultimately, we informally decided that probably our best path forward would be to demo(lish) our existing bleachers and install new ones.”
Nelms later noted that there was not an estimated cost for repairs; the board indicated that funding for the project would come from sales-tax income. The commissioners agreed unanimously to spend $250,000 at this time; anything exceeding that in the future will need to be discussed.
Efforts begin
Just 1 hour, 45 minutes into demolition of the bleachers on June 29, two of the five bays had been reduced to rubble. Eerily enough, several of the rows actually crumbled after being picked up with the excavator. But the footers where the new steps had just been poured four years ago proved to be a challenge. Adams Contracting had a hydraulic hammer to break up the stubborn concrete on-site within the hour and two more sections fell before 6 p.m. – when the hammer ran into mechanical issues.
Dodging a storm system that moved into the county, work resumed and by 10 a.m. Friday – less than 24 hours after the unanimous approval of the plan by the commissioners and school board – teardown was complete.
Logistically, the rest of the game plan is smoothly moving along. Tampa, Fla.-based Southeastern Seating provided a quote for 1,680 gross seats, in the form of aluminum bleachers – with a 168-foot span, 15 rows and four aisles, which will actually increase the home-side capacity by an estimated 100 seats – in the amount of $66,120. Graham County Schools finance director Lester Greene sent the purchase order to Southeastern shortly after the meeting; the sales representative said late in the evening that processing was underway.
Notably, the district is acquiring the seating on a “lease-to-own” basis – which could help offset some of the costs on a new stadium.
Several quotes were being sought out for pouring concrete; the holiday week was scheduled to include the removal of debris.
Robbinsville is set to host East Surry for its 2023 season opener Aug. 18; one day prior, the JV Knights have a 6 p.m. appointment at home with Mountain Heritage. An unidentified individual will not be available to install the bleachers after Aug. 8.
“We’re in a tight spot; the timeline is a tough egg,” Nelms said. “We’ve got to get something done if we want to play football.”
Over the years, Big Oaks Stadium has seen its fair share of late-game comebacks by the beloved Black Knights; today, the very backbone of a Robbinsville fall is hoping for one final rally.