Their own field of dreams

Charles Rich

He remembered feeling helpless as he stared at the rain-damaged

field.

Don Sheppard wouldn’t forget the soggy field conditions when the

previously unbeaten La Canada High boys’ soccer team fell to

visiting Pomona Diamond Ranch, 2-0, in a CIF Southern Section

Division IV semifinal match Feb. 27, 2001.

The field -- not the final score -- mattered to Sheppard, who has

decided to take matters into his own hands.

Sheppard, who is president of the Arroyo United Foundation, a

non-profit organization that raises funds to help schools in

different communities, donated about $1.3 million to upgrade La

Canada’s field -- used for football and soccer -- along with its

track.

Nearly 6,000 cubic yards of dirt have been removed since the

project began June 23. Sheppard, a La Canada Flintridge resident,

said the phase will be completed by Oct. 1 and will include FieldTurf

and an all-weather track.

“I became highly motivated when I watched that soccer match,”

Sheppard said. “The field was deplorable, and there were puddles

everywhere.

“The rain affected both teams, but you just don’t want to see

contests affected by field injustices.”

Thanks to Sheppard and the approval by the governing board of the

La Canada Unified School District on June 3, the La Canada soccer

teams, track and field squads, football team and several youth

leagues will have an opportunity to compete on the renovated

facility.

Sheppard said a permanent fabric will be sewn into the surface,

including an interlocking “LC” at midfield and hash marks.

Sheppard said the football field dimensions will measure 50 by 100

yards. The soccer field will be 65 by 120 yards. Two new portable

goal posts, with a total cost of about $10,000, will be installed as

part of the project.

The eight-lane track, which will cover 400 meters, will be marked

with starting, ending and hurdle locations, along with new curbs. The

previous all-dirt track was 440 yards, Sheppard said.

“It’s the finest kind of track that could be put in,” Sheppard

said.

The shot put ring, located in the northwest corner of the field,

will be reorganized along with the surface for the pole vaulting and

long jump competition.

Sheppard said Encinitas-based Byrom-Davey is serving as the

general contractor. Atlas Track of Tualatin, Ore., is a subcontractor

for the track, and Montreal-based FieldTurf is the subcontractor for

the football field.

The La Canada football team will be forced to play their first two

regular-season home games at St. Francis, which had FieldTurf

installed in 2001. The Spartans will play nonleague games against

Burbank on Sept. 12 and Glendale on Sept. 18. La Canada will play its

first game on the new field Oct. 17 against Blair.

La Canada Coach Rich Wheeler said the new surface will take time

adjusting to, but should buoy the Spartans.

“Hopefully, it will take a quarter or half [of a game] for the

opposition to get used to,” said Wheeler, who will enter his seventh

season at La Canada. “There had been talk for two or three years

about getting a new surface.

“They asked me about it, and I told them it would be neat.”

The Spartans, who missed the postseason last year for the first

time since 1995, will play six of their regular-season games on

FieldTurf. La Canada will also play a game against San Gabriel

Gabrielino at East L.A. College on Sept. 26.