By Michael LEVITSKY

Over the last five decades, Stengel Field has been called home by the proud baseball programs of Glendale Community College – GCC – and Crescenta Valley High School – CVHS.

Last Thursday, teams and administrators of both schools, along with Glendale Unified School District – GUSD ¬– officials, gathered to unveil much-anticipated renovations to the field’s dugout and clubhouses, a project that took eight months to complete.

“This is a great example of what we can do between GCC and GUSD when we work together,” said GUSD Board President Jennifer Freemon. 

Considered a home away from home, Crescenta Valley High School’s campus has never had its own baseball diamond. The Falcons play their home baseball games at Stengel Field, sharing the field with GCC, a partnership dating back to the early 1960s.

For many years, CV also held senior graduation there every spring, until the venue was condemned, according to CVHS Principal Dr. Linda Junge.

“Since that time, we’ve been trying to figure out how to make this happen,” added Dr. Junge, who has been the school’s principal for the last seven years. “It’s been truly about eight years.”

While the physical field remained largely untouched, bungalow structures were brought in that will serve as the team’s new clubhouse. Prior to the installation of the clubhouse, Falcons’ players and coaches were forced to change into gear before and after every game, every practice, in the parking lot of Verdugo Park, where Stengel Field is located.

CVHS baseball head coach Phil Torres, who is entering season 24 as the Falcons’ front man, proposed the idea for the bungalows around 2011, when the previous dressing areas underneath the bleachers were torn down. Eight long years later, in September 2019, renovations finally began, which Torres credits to GUSD’s first-year superintendent Dr. Vivian Ekchian.

“Once [she] came in and we talked about it, I believed she was going to make it happen, so we started raising money for the inside … She made it a priority for our kids, so we can’t thank her enough,” said Torres.

“We have high expectations of ourselves, our students, and all adults,” said Dr. Ekchian, who has been superintendent since September. “Today was a demonstration of that.”

The project was largely funded by Measure GC, a bond measure passed back in 2016, according to GCC superintendent and president Dr. David Viar. Glendale Unified’s Capital Project Fund and community fundraising played significant roles in the funding as well.

Just before sundown, Falcon players and coaches took a break from practice to gather in front of their new clubhouse, alongside representatives from CVHS, GCC, and GUSD and members of the Vaqueros baseball program, for the official ribbon cutting ceremony.

Remarks were made by members of all parties, giving many thanks and expressing gratitude toward one another and others who worked together to make the project possible.

Thursday’s ribbon cutting was a notable display of teamwork, said Dr. Viar, among GUSD and GCC, and CV and GCC. The communal effort enhanced a partnership that has spanned 50 years and, following the renovations, is set to last 50 more.

  Michael LEVITSKY