The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
New field coming from family donation
Elyria Catholic High School’s main sports field will get a new surface and a new name as the school accepts the largest donation in its history.
The Dan and Mila Reaser Family Foundation will donate $400,000 toward a new artificial turf playing surface at the school’s stadium, 725 Gulf Road in Elyria.
Reaser was on hand, along with his family, school students, faculty, administrators and supporters to announce the gift April 22.
They used shovels to dig the first clumps of grass that will be replaced starting in May and ending in time for the fall sports season.
“Our Foundation is delighted to be a catalyst for this project that will motivate future stadium renovations designed to provide a
modern environment that lends a collegiate feel to the Elyria Catholic campus,” Reaser said.
He told the crowd that his family has had some of their best times on that field.
For the students, he encouraged them to always remember, always give back and always love their school because it will be an important part of their lives.
For the groundbreaking, Reaser was flanked by family members, who also have ties to Elyria Catholic High School.
His mother, Joan (Rothgery) Reaser, graduated in 1952, and his children Danny Reaser and Shannon Brown graduated in 2011 and 2015, respectively.
Reaser’s wife, Mila; his father, Cecil; Danny Reaser and wife, Bailey, a 2006 graduate, and their sons Beau and Hudson; and Brown and her husband, Kyle, were present to break the ground for the new field.
Danny Reaser was a football standout and Brown was a cheerleader at the school.
Elyria Catholic President Annie Heidersbach, Principal Suzanne Lester, Athletic Director Brian Fox and Dad’s Booster Club representative Ron Zidek, class of 1963, rounded out the turf groundbreaking team as all dug in with shovels to mark the start of the project.
“We are grateful to the Dan and Mila Reaser Family Foundation for the gift, which aligns with Elyria Catholic’s vision to provide students with curricular, cocurricular, and athletic facilities and experiences that support their personal development and goals,” Heidersbach
said. “Dan’s generous investment comes at a pivotal time for the EC community as we launch a strategic planning process that will include ways to upgrade our facilities with amenities that appeal to today’s students and support their learning and growth.”
Dan Reaser will lend his name to the stadium, formerly known as Knights of Columbus Field.
The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men’s charitable organization, has been in Elyria for 115 years and supports the change, said Matt St. Marie.
St. Marie is grand knight, Knights of Columbus No. 774 — and “Mr. EC,” working as the voice of Elyria Catholic High School sports, Heidersbach said.
“Our commitment to charitable service is one of the many ways that the Knights express our Catholic faith,” St. Marie said. “We stand proud that our brother knights, Dan Reaser, and his father, Cecil, and son, Danny, have stepped forward to continue the legacy that we started so many years ago.
“Knowing that Knights of Columbus Field at Elyria Catholic will continue, albeit under a new name, to provide student-athletes with the best facilities to compete makes Dan’s brother Knights smile. We congratulate Brother Dan and Elyria Catholic on this memorable day.”
The Knights were instrumental in creating the field starting in 1951.
The next year, the Elyria Catholic High School Panthers logged their first win over archrival Lorain St. Mary High School, the school that later would become Lorain Catholic High School.
The remaining $192,000 of the $592,000 project will be secured through additional philanthropic gifts.
The announcement is the second major renovation for the school this year.
Elyria Catholic High School has been raising money to renovate its original gymnasium to become a new performing arts center.
On April 17, the school held Encore!, which was an evening of online performances to cap that campaign that raised $418,497 for the performance space.
Together, they are two big projects that will appeal to a wide range of students at the school, Heidersbach said.
“We are grateful to the Dan and Mila Reaser Family Foundation for the gift, which aligns with Elyria Catholic’s vision to provide students with curricular, cocurricular, and athletic facilities and experiences that support their personal development and goals.” — Annie Heodersbach, Elyria Catholic president