Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Athletic Program Not A Burden To District

By JOHN MILLER

Gurdon Athletic Director John Pace said the football program has always been self-supporting, and, in fact, has to cover the cost of spring sports.

These sports, baseball, tennis, track and golf, generate absolutely no revenue.

Therefore, when the Gurdon School Board talks of having to "bail out" the athletic program, Pace sees red in a different manner.

In the Aug. 20 meeting of the school board, Superintendent Bobby Smithson informed the district's governing body it had spent $18,000 to bail out the athletic and band programs, which were in deficit situations.

He said these programs will have to be self-supporting from now on. According to Smithson, the district has bailed out the athletic program twice in the last five years. He added the program should support itself or the district will have to continue paying for its red ink woes.

Pace submitted a proposed budget for the program (covering football, baseball, track, golf and tennis) with the estimated gate receipts not reflecting the possibility of any rain dates for the grid squad this season.

Smithson said Pace's budget needs to be reviewed before being passed by the board.

"We're now 100 percent self-supporting," Pace said "in football." However, the grid program is still being required to cover the costs of the non-revenue producing spring programs.

"It'll be hard to do," he said, "but if we have a good year it'll be no problem. If we have some bad weather, it will be."

However, Pace said he and the coaching staff are committed to making sure the football players have the best equipment possible to ensure their safety.

"We're committed to the gear being safe and certified," he said. "They'll get the best equipment we can put them in, especially helmets and shoulder pads."

He said the safety of the student-athletes will not be risked because of budget problems.

Last year gate receipts for Gurdon totaled $21,000, with the single largest gate being $6,000 when Prescott rolled into town.

This season, the Devils will make the trip south to Curley Wolf territory, hoping to avenge the loss suffered by the defending state AA champs.

"Overall," Pace said, "the program may have been in the red. But the football team made the playoff and we had great gates. We generated plenty of revenue.

"We'll do as much as we can with the money we have. We're conservative, and don't spend money that's not needed for the programs or the students. We will put money into the program to have a safely equipped team."

The basketball program is another matter. This year the Devil roundball squads will keep all gate receipts as well as the revenue generated from the concession stands. According to Smithson and the board, this will be the basketball program's operating funds.