Facility renamings deserve support

The Caldwell County Board of Education placed proposals for the naming of athletic facilities at Hibriten and West Caldwell on a one-month public comment period during its meeting last week.

As far as I'm concerned, they are proposals that should be met with support.

Hibriten is proposing that Leslie Hagaman Field, its baseball facility, be called Leslie Hagaman Field at Wilson Park following generous financial contributions for renovations by the Wilson family.

That seems like a good thing for the board to do in recognition of people who obviously care about the school and its facilities.

At West Caldwell, the proposal is to name the gym floor Coach A Court in recognition of boys' basketball coach Danny Anderson, who last month earned the 500th win of his coaching career. Of all those victories, 354 have come while Anderson has been heading the Warriors for the last 16 years.

Again, honoring someone for their sustained success and the mark they have left on a program in the way Anderson has is a classy thing to do.

I'm one of those people who thinks we should give honor and recognition to people who make impacts in positive ways. Naming athletic facilities, academic buildings or governmental plazas after people who have devoted their time and energies to our youth, communities and citizens is but a small token of gratitude that can be expressed.

In some cases, financial contributions come into play, and those often help enhance the appearance of facilities and keep them functional. More times than not, however, people want a facility named after someone because of the accomplishments or accolades achieved by that individual.

And that's OK, too.

My greatest gripe is that we often wait until someone dies before naming a facility after them. If we're naming a building, a gymnasium or a park after a person, why not do so while the person is living, letting him/her enjoy it while he/she is alive.

I'm in favor of Hibriten's proposal to rename its baseball facility, and I wholeheartedly agree that West Caldwell should be allowed to name the gym floor in honor of Danny Anderson.

And it would make perfect sense to me for South Caldwell High School to name its baseball field after Fred Lanford, the long-time Spartan coach who won more than 500 games on the diamond while establishing South Caldwell as the prominent baseball program it is, a tradition upheld by current Spartan skipper Jeff Parham.

These people have made positive contributions to our schools. It only makes sense that they receive recognition by having a facility named for them.

Nathan Key is Managing Editor of the News-Topic. He can be reached at nathankey@newstopic.net.