Reese DeCamp of North Union releases a pitch toward the plate during a 2022 home game. The Lady Cats’ home diamond was just one of many projects funded by Springenfest, which was the predecessor of the North Union Sports Festival.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)
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It sounds as though this past weekend’s North Union Sports Festival in Richwood attracted a good number of people.
I was happy to hear that, because I know the good the festival and its predecessor, Springenfest have done for NU athletics for more than four decades.
I can go back to the pre-Springenfest days in Richwood because I graduated from North Union a long, long time ago.
There was no football field at the high school when I was a student.
Practices were conducted and home games were played on the football field, which was dedicated to Richwood-area veterans and located behind the old junior high school building (which is no longer there).
The players had to travel from the high school to the junior high for practices.
Now, that wasn’t a long drive, considering the size of the village.
However, it wasn’t as convenient as walking out of your locker room right after school to the practice field.
The North Union School District faced a huge financial problem toward the middle of the 1970s.
The failure of an operating levy in November of 1976 left the district without any money until the calendar flipped to 1977.
North Union and Groveport-Madison were in the same boat and shut their doors from early November until the first of the year.
It seemed like the two school districts’ predicament led the local TV news nearly every night.
The Ohio General Assembly later passed a law that prohibited schools from taking such drastic action.
My mother was a teacher in the district and I had three younger siblings still in school.
They had a lot of class time to make up as winter segued into spring.
They even had to attend school on Saturdays.
A pair of pictures I took for the Journal-Tribune around that time still stand out in my mind.
One was taken at the old Byhalia Elementary School Building of children going to Saturday school.
The other was at the old Claibourne-Richwood Elementary when the students were finally released for summer vacation… much later after other local districts.
The financial crunch took a toll on North Union’s athletic department.
District officials didn’t want the cost of turning on the lights on the football field for Friday night home games.
Thus, the Wildcats’ home games during the 1976 season were played on Saturday afternoons.
The basketball teams had to conduct any practices off-site once the district shut its doors in November.
Some practices were held in the gymnasium above the old Municipal Building, which also at that time housed village offices, the police department and fire department.
Once new operational money was dispersed to the district in the new year, the NU winter sports teams were allowed to practice and play games.
It was a bit chaotic, as the Wildcats had to squeeze a lot of games in during a much shorter time frame before tournaments began.
Fortunately, some wise folks within the district came up with the idea of a festival to raise money for the school’s athletic department.
That way, they reasoned, no tax-payer money would be used to fund sports.
The festival became very popular and profitable.
The first project it funded was a new football field, which the current Wildcats use.
A few years later, the Lady Cat softball diamond was constructed.
Prior to that, the varsity softball squad practiced and played on the diamond in the Richwood Park. It was functional, but not the best situation for a varsity team.
A new all-weather track was constructed around the football field.
Other additions over the years included the field house, with all of its equipment, an outdoor basketball court on Blagrove Street for neighborhood youngsters and other purchases of equipment and supplies.
The current-day Wildcats have a pretty decent set-up as far as facilities are concerned.
That’s because of the foresight many folks in the district had years ago to provide for future generations.
I feel the originators of Springenfest ultimately saved the day for North Union sports.