Stadium Features, Highlights & Facts...

Piqua fans will take great pride in knowing their team is housed in one of the best high school stadiums in the midwest. Alexander Stadium provides all of the high tech amenities found in newly constructed high school, college and professional sports facilities.

Some of the features of this new facility include...
- Home and Visitors' Entrances & Ticket Booths
- Seating Capacity of 8,200 Spectators...4,200 Home Seats (including 522 chair seats and 576 bench bucket seats) and 4,000 Visitors' Bench Seats
- Two Large, Modern Concession Stands
- Two Mens' & Two Womens' Restrooms
- Boosters' Sales Booth & Information Booth
- Premium All-Weather Track & Field (built in 1988)
- Modern, Efficient Lighting by Musco Sports Lighting Maintained at 60-65 Foot Candles
- Over 3,000 Total Hard Surface Parking Spaces
- Air-Conditioned Pressboxes For Coaches, Press & Video/Radio Coverage on Home Side
- Seperate Pressbox on Visitors' Side
- Physically Challenged Accessibility & Seating
- Large Stadium Scoreboard with Video Capabilities
- Large Home & Visitors' Varsity Team Dressing Rooms
- State-Of-The-Art Training Room
- State-Of-The-Art Coaches' Media Offices
- Over 1,700 Sq. Ft. of Storage Space
- Team Meeting Room

Two very special people made it possible...

Cliff & Joyce Alexander

A dream has become a reality thanks to the generosity of Cliff and Joyce Alexander. When they offered a $1.5 million donation toward a new stadium, it was just one more example of their commitment to the community.

As a result of the generosity of Cliff and Joyce and the support of the entire city of Piqua, the new state of the art facility was dedicated on August 24, 2001.

Cliff and Joyce (McDonel) have been dedicated and loyal supporters of education and the young people of Piqua for decades.

Cliff's accomplishments are many. As president of the Piqua Area Chamber of Commerce, he made his primary goal the passing of a bond issue to build a new high school in 1978. This facility is regarded as one of the finest secondary school buildings in the state.

He is a co-founder of the Piqua Education Foundation, and Cliff and Joyce have provided hundreds of scholarships for Piqua High School students over the years.

Cliff was the recipient of the prestigious 'Order of George' Award by the Piqua Area Chamber of Commerce in 1985. He was selected as a 'Friend of Education' by the Ohio State Department of Education in 1989. Cliff was also recognized as 'Friend of the Schools' by the staff of the Piqua City Schools in 1993.

The entire Piqua community wishes to acknowledge the life-long commitments of Cliff and Joyce Alexander. Upon recommendation of the Stadium Steering Committee and the Piqua Board of Education, the new facility has been proclaimed as Alexander Stadium.

Ed & Julia Purk

Piqua native Ed Purk has been a rold model as a teacher, coach, and athletic director since he began his professional career as a teacher in Piqua in 1965.

As athletic director at Piqua High School, he implemented the womens' athletic program and enhanced the mens' program. He coordinated the development and completion of the all-weather track.

The need for a new stadium had been discussed for years, but only after Ed Purk assumed the leadership role did the stadium project take a definate direction. His ability to organize, motivate and guide those associated with a project of this magnitude made him the logical choice as the driving force behind the successful completion of the new facility.

His commitment to the Piqua City Schools and his loyalty to the Piqua Indians athletic program have been exemplary. Ed Purk Field serves as tangible evidence of his effort, vision and concern for the lives he has touched over the years.

High tech scoreboard for a high tech facility...

The scoreboard in Alexander Stadium - Purk Field was a personal donation by Piqua businessman Paul Sherry. The state-of-the-art board was manufactured by Daktronics, Inc. and measures 30 feet tall by 32 feet wide and stands 45 feet above the ground. It includes a 64 by 128 incandescent matrix message center that will display 16.7 million shades of color for animation, graphics and video. The message center is 8 feet tall and 16 feet wide and allows for the use of closed circuit television, including recorded video of plays, along with the ability to project messages and announcements. The scoreboard is wire-less controlled and the message center uses fiber optic cable for transmillion and receiving of data. The system also incoporates two 25 sccond play clocks, one loacated under the scoreboard and the other positioned on the roof of the north fieldhouse. Daktronics is also the manufacturer of scoreboards and displays at Paul Brown Stadium, Cleveland Browns Stadium and the Seattle Mariners Stadium. The scoreboard is as unique as Alexander Stadium. There is none other of its kind in Ohio.

America Sound and Electonics installed the sound system which is located at the top of the scoreboard and parallesl those found in college and professional facilities including the Rose Bowl, the Philadelphia Spectrum, Notre Dame Stadium and the Vehicle Launch Building and Lunch Complex at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The sound system ensures that everyone in the stadium can hear, from the best center seat to the concession area with no deviation in volume.

*This information was used from the Alexander Stadium & Purk Field Commemorative Program.