Rodd's Ramblings: Road to new stadium was an enjoyable journey

The official grand opening of the Members Cooperative Credit Union Stadium and athletic complex was held Friday night prior to the Cloquet vs. Duluth East football game. School officials, the school board and MCCU representatives joined in a ribbing cutting ceremony before the game, and giveaways were in abundance in celebration of the occasion.

A lot of work went on behind the scenes to get the project done, and as with anything of this magnitude, everything had to come together at the right time to make it work.

Back in the late summer of 2022, I was having a neighborhood get-together with assistant football coach Lance Horvat as well as head football coach Jeff Ojanen.

"Why don't we have turf, yet every school our size and larger has turf, and many, many schools smaller than ours all have turf?" I asked. We assumed we knew the answer, but after a bit of talking I said I would call Cloquet superintendent Michael Cary and see if I could set up a meeting to get an idea of what it would take to make it happen.

I enlisted the help of Steve Micke of the Reliable Agency. Less than a week later, we were seated in Dr. Cary's office holding a meeting with the superintendent, senior high principal Steve Battaglia, business manager Candace Nelis, and activities director Paul Riess. Eventually, we were given the dollar amount we would need to raise for the turf and a time frame to have the money in hand.

A few weeks later, Dr. Cary came forward with a potential plan to renovate the entire sports complex, not just adding turf to the football field. From that point on, the administration got busy putting plans together for potential layouts of a new complex if enough money were raised.

Community members and coaches formed a committee to start a fundraising campaign. Co-chaired by Ojanen and Bobbi Turner, the committee began to meet on a regular basis, but it was a tight timeline. We needed all the potential donations to be presented to the school by around late March or early April 2023. It was a mad scramble, because 22nd Street was going to be torn up. If we didn't have the new field in by the fall of 2023, there was no way it could be completed in 2024 because 22nd Street wouldn't be accessible.

The saving grace turned out to be someone on the committee enlisting the help of Nate Knutson. If you've never met Nate, you are missing out. He's an amazing man who gets more done in a day than most of us get done in a year.

Knutson held a meeting with Ryanne Battaglia, who at the time worked for MCCU. Eventually, Nate came back to the committee and announced that the money we needed to raise would be donated by Members Cooperative Credit Union. MCCU committed $1.25 million (the cost of the new turf field) and up to $300,000 for the new scoreboard.

That money - along with $2 million in bonds and over $1 million in federal pandemic funds - put the amount needed over the top of not only adding turf, but an incredible new scoreboard along with redoing the entire complex, including the brand-new tennis courts and track. All of this was done without having to go to a referendum to pay for the complex.

Personally, I'd like to thank the school board, Dr. Cary, all the committee members, the entire staff and management of MCCU, Ryanne Battaglia, the construction crews, custodial staff, and everyone who was involved in stepping up to make this facility happen. Not only did these people make the new complex a reality, but they did so without new taxes and they did it in less than a year.

Last Friday's grand opening was topped off by a big win over Duluth East as a huge crowd was on hand to enjoy the beautiful evening at the new complex. It was a fitting end to a great night.

Pine Knot News writer Kerry Rodd has been covering Carlton County sports for decades on the radio and in the newspaper. Contact him at [email protected].