Moorpark Finally Can Feel Right . . . at Home : Wandering Raiders Grid Team to Open the Season Today in Their New Stadium

No more fans showing up at the wrong place. No more getting kicked out of high school locker rooms. No more bouncing from one playing field to another, week after week.

For the Raiders, today’s dedication of the new football stadium at Moorpark College means, simply stated, no more hassles.

“We showed up at the locker room to get dressed,” said Athletic Director Paul Dunham about one game at Simi Valley High. “But the Simi coach kicked us out so that his team could get dressed for a game at Thousand Oaks. . . .

“By the time we were able to get in there to dress, we were 15 minutes late for the start of our game.”

The Raiders have been the Gypsies of Ventura County sports since Moorpark first fielded a team in 1968. Each week for the past 16 years, the homeless Raiders have traveled from one area high school to another for its “home” games--one week at Simi Valley, the next at Camarillo, the next at Thousand Oaks.

That nomadic existence came to an end last season when the Raiders moved onto campus to play their home games in their partially completed stadium.

And at 1:30 p.m. today, when Moorpark begins its 1985 season against Los Angeles Harbor College, the Raiders officially will open their recently completed 5,000-seat Griffin Stadium.

“It’s the nicest facility in the county,” Dunham said. “It should be a tremendous asset to the college and a big help in recruiting players.”

The stadium project began more than two years ago. The recent completion of Phase I of the stadium project cost about $130,000--all of it paid for by donations. The college today unveils the construction of cement risers on both sides of the stadium, a press box and scoreboard.

Phase II, which will begin soon, includes the purchase of seats for the cement risers and field lights for night games. All of Moorpark’s home games this season are in the afternoon.

The stadium was named for Paul E. Griffin Jr., the project’s chief benefactor. Griffin never attended or taught at Moorpark, but he has been a board of trustees member since 1981. Griffin also served as chairman of the Moorpark College Foundation board of directors and is the only person to have served two terms in that position.

Two years ago, when stadium plans were introduced, Griffin offered a $40,000 matching grant to the board. When the board raised its $40,000, Griffin came up with his.

“I believe in athletics as a fantastic training program for youth,” Griffin said. “The excellence they are involved in and the training they receive will help them for the rest of their lives. The more I get to know about athletics the more I realize that it’s a great framework for becoming a successful person.”

Griffin may not know everything about athletics, but he knows a lot about success. He is the president and chief executive officer of Griffin Homes--the fourth-generation Griffin at the head of the firm. The company has built more than 18,000 homes in Southern California since its founding in 1903. Last year, Griffin’s total sales volume was more than $80 million.

“Not only has Mr. Griffin helped us financially,” said Linda Seitz, director of the Moorpark College Foundation. “But his expertise in planning and building and his strong leadership were important contributions to the project--and the school.”