Pride takes shape

Mike Sciacca

The football program at Huntington Beach High has achieved two

milestones in the past six days.

On Friday, the Oilers picked up a shocking, 14-10 road victory

over host Esperanza.

That triumph will go down in school annals as Huntington’s first

win against Esperanza in varsity football competition.

On Wednesday, the program held what it called a “historic opening”

of the newly renovated football locker room, which is located beneath

the visitors bleachers on the south side of Sheue Field.

After talking with several former players and coaches, Head

Football Coach Mike Groscost said the general estimation was that the

football locker room had not been updated in nearly half a century.

“When I first got this head coaching job 17 months ago, my first

thought was, ‘no way,’ we are going to do something about this locker

room,” said Groscost, himself a former Oiler player. “Concrete was

falling above the top of the lockers, which were rusted out and

molded. There were leaks. All of this was totally unacceptable. We

went to work a while back, trying to raise the money needed to fix

the problems.”

The restoration project included the moving of the team training

room, built-in coaches’ offices -- eight coaches previously shared a

dilapidated trailer adjacent to the football stadium -- a team room

with new lockers, storage room, new flooring and remodeled bathroom

and showers.

Now, there are five television sets complete with a stereo system

are set up in each corner of the locker room. The team and coaches

watch game film each Saturday morning in the team room.

The total cost of the project, Groscost said, was nearly $100,000.

Various fund-raisers were held to round up the cash, although the

estimated $100,000 has not been met yet. Two lift-a-thons held by the

football program netted $30,000, he said. Groscost even held a

“Casino Night” at his home last summer.

A big chunk of change, however, came in the form of a $40,000

sports grant through the city, he said.

Denelle and Stephen Fullmer, in their second year as co-presidents

of the football boosters club, oversaw the grant, which Stephen

Fullmer wrote and submitted to the city.

The sports grant totaled $433,000, Denelle Fullmer said. Of that

amount, $40,000 was earmarked for the locker room project.

The Fullmers have three sons -- Morgan, a senior on the varsity

team, Austin, a junior who plays both JV and varsity, and Wyatt, a

member of the freshman team -- in the Oilers football program.

Stephen Fullmer preceded his sons by playing football for the

Oilers from 1972-74 and the state of the football locker room, he

told his wife, was the same, even back then.

“We’ve had great support from the city and several other

individuals in this community,” Denelle Fullmer said. “We’re honored

with this $40,000 grant. Many of the people who worked on this

project gave freely of their time and resources to make it all

possible.”

The local firm, Huey Roberts Construction, oversaw the project.

Local businessman Ed Laird donated materials for the stadium, Tom

Buksa donated brackets used for the new bleachers installed on the

visitors’ side and Joe Coleman of Golden Construction donated his

time by working on the exterior of the stadium as well as doing a

majority of the work in the locker room, she said.

But before any work could be done on the interior of the locker

room, the first thing that had to be done was to seal the visitors

side of the stadium, Groscost said.

That project also included the installation of new bleachers, and

was taken on by Eagle Scout Riley Richards for his Scout project.

Cap Sheue Field, named after a man who served two terms as varsity

football coach of the Oilers between 1925-35 and 1943-48, has seen

plenty of wear and tear through the years.

The football stadium is not only used by Huntington, but serves as

a home field for Edison, Fountain Valley, Marina on occasion, and

Ocean View, before the Seahawks opened their own stadium in

September.

The main locker room under the visitors bleachers on game night

has only been used by the Oilers the past five years; other schools

using the stadium for home games, used the boys’ locker room located

a few 100 feet away on campus.

Visiting teams used the girls’ locker room, also located nearby on

campus.

The Oilers were able to use the newly refurbished locker room on

Sept. 18, their first home game of the 2003 season.

They will be the only team to use the new locker room in future

years.

“This feels like a new start for us,” Groscost said. “We wanted to

create some pride in the program, and this project was a great start.

“It’s been an exciting week: first, we beat Esperanza for the

first time and now, we officially open up our new locker room. It’s

great for our program.”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at [email protected].