Decades of Derby memories torn away
DERBY — The demolition could take the whole week but the memories left behind of the old field house may last forever.
Demolition of the 61-yearold field house at the Leo F. Ryan Sports Complex on Chatfield Street began Monday morning. Superintendent of Schools Matthew Conway said taking down the structure should take two days with another three days planned for removing the foundation.
The deconstruction is part of a $4 million project that also includes removing contaminated soil found during the initial recon work and carting it to a licensed disposal site.
The hazardous level of petroleum, garbage and naturally occurring arsenic in about 5,000 cubic feet of soil uncovered below the surface near the side of the sledding hill and in the right field corner of the softball field was “below what the state requires reportable,” Conway said, but was removed as a safety measure.
The construction of a new state-of-the-art field house, along with a new boys’ baseball field and girls’ softball field, comes from a multimillion donation from Joan R. Payden in memory of her father, Joseph, who played baseball for Derby.
The new structure will be a two- story facility with a second floor porch that offers a view of both the baseball and football fields. It will include a banquet and meeting room, a museum for Derby athletic accomplishments and modern locker, shower and workout rooms for athletes.
Payden, the chief executive officer and founder of Payden and Rygel, a $ 110 billion dollar asset management company with offices in the U. S. and overseas, will dedicate the new J. R. Payden Field House next spring.
Joseph R. Payden, the 1915 Derby High valedictorian, played baseball at Derby, graduated from Yale University and served in England as a fighter pilot during World War I. He later became chief executive officer of Union Carbide Java Ltd. in Indonesia.
The red brick field house now being demolished opened in 1957 with a public restroom and concession area on the first floor and showers, dressing rooms and meeting rooms on the second floor.
Among the traditions now relegated to memory is a tapestry containing the poem “Pride,” which Dom Piscioneri wrote for the undefeated 1969 team. Before every game after that, team members would slap the tapestry for good luck.
“We were able to save the tapestry with the poem,” said Andrew Baklik, chief of staff for Mayor Richard Dziekan. “There’s no way that would be destroyed. It was a tradition for any football player to slap that before going out to play.”
George French, the high school’s football coach, has the memento, Baklik said: “He’s reached out to the Piscioneri family to see if they want it.”
The home team lockers have been offered to former players, he said.
Carmen DiCenso, the former aldermanic president, football coach and player, said the silver ductwork on which inspirational messages were written by players over the years also was saved.
“We’re hoping to put it somewhere in the new field house,” he said.
The new field house was designed by Kaestle Boos Architects and will be built by Turner Construction. It will sit between the football and baseball fields. Construction began two weeks ago; Conway said he does not expect it to be finished until May.
He expects all the fields to be completed in November.
For now, Conway said, the high school is finalizing plans for where its home games will be played. The first — against Watertown — will take place at Oxford High school on Sept. 7.
In addition to the projects Payden is paying for, the city also is lining the football field with artificial turf and building an adjacent track and field area. The state provided $ 2.9 million for that work.
Demolition of the field house may be watched via the following link: https://m.youtube.com/ watch?feature=youtu.be&v=84VbVqnplhc