Growing the program

Work underway for new gym for Malvern Leopards

Malvern School District Athletic Director Joe Cook spreads out his hands as he describes the plans for the new gym and the surrounding area that is currently under construction on the Malvern High School campus.
Malvern School District Athletic Director Joe Cook spreads out his hands as he describes the plans for the new gym and the surrounding area that is currently under construction on the Malvern High School campus.

As members of the Lady Leopards basketball team at Malvern High School open the season in search of their third Class 4A state championship in three years, they know they will be playing their last season in the Bill Hunt Field House.

Right outside the wall of the existing field house, a new gymnasium is under construction, a $6 million facility that will transform the back of the high school into a plaza serving not only the the new facility but also leading over to Claude Mann Stadium about 50 feet away.

“What was a grass area where the band used to practice will be a big open plaza, a social space shared by the gym and the football stadium,” said Jim Cook, athletic director for the Malvern Leopards program. “Right now, the concessions and restrooms are at the back of the bandstand on the other end of the football field, and it’s a long way from the entrance to the field house. Now, it will all be together in this plaza between the school, the gym and the football field.”

The new gym will include four new dressing rooms for basketball and volleyball, as well as a weightroom and a refurbished dressing room for the visitors, Cook said during a tour of the construction site and the current field house.

“The plaza will be accessed through an arched entrance,” he said. “It will provide security. It’s 2014, and we would like to have more control over central access to the campus.”

Outside the entrance will be parking for around 100 cars. Cook said the parking lots will change around the school, but the number of spaces available should increase a little bit.

While the field house now seats about 800 spectators, there will be seating for more than 1,400 in the new gym.

“It will be big enough to host regional tournaments for both basketball and volleyball,” Cook said. “It would need to have 1,800 seats for a state championship, but we were not looking to host one of those. But we would like to have a regional tournament here.”

The existing field house, built in 1955, will remain, but the orange bleachers will be removed.

“A school can’t have another gym where you can have competitions if the state is helping to fund a new facility,” Cook said. “After we clear the seating out, there will be room to use the field house for PE classes, indoor soccer and places where baseball and softball teams can practice in bad weather.

The old field house carries the pictures of three of the four Leopard teams to capture state basketball championships.

“The boys won in 1989 and 1990, and the picture is up for the 2013 girls team,” Cook said, pointing to the almost lifesize pictures of the teams.

“They sent the wrong picture back to us, so we are waiting for the picture of the 2014 team.”

This is the second phase for improvements to the athletic facilities. Two years ago, artificial turf was installed on the football field at Mann Stadium. Some seating improvements were also made at the stadium, which was built by the federal Works Progress Administration in 1936.

“The turf was done with all donated funds,” Cook said. “We also upgraded the scoreboard.”

While walking around the field house, Cook pointed to a house and a large lot across Main Street next to Malvern Middle School. He said that lot would be the site of a new administration building within a few years.

He said the administration facility would also offer additional parking spaces for athletic events. The school system is also looking at having a pedestrian bridge over the street onto the campus within a few years after the new building is finished. Cook said school-system officials hope to receive state funds to help with that bridge.

Cook, who was also a student at Malvern schools, said he hopes to carry on a tradition by bringing the name Bill Hunt to the new gym.

“I’m all about the tradition of the orange and black, and I hope the name goes to the new facility where we will be playing,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Leopards look to bring one more season of victory to the old field house.

Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 244-4460 or wbryan@arkansasonline.com.

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