Charlie’s Gate, the public entry to Memorial Stadium at West Albany High School, was open Saturday afternoon, Sept. 5, 2026.
Now that new synthetic turf has been installed on the football fields at both South and West Albany high schools, the public once again has access to the fields when there’s no game or other school event going on.
I confirmed this on a bike ride Saturday. At South, I climbed the bleachers for a look around. (I did the same thing in 2014, the last time new turf was installed.) On Saturday it went like this:
Contractors completed the new field at West a few days ago. At South, the field and track, along with the tennis courts, were refurbished earlier in the summer.
According to the quotes by Beynon Sports Facilities of Tualatin, the new field at South cost about $632,000, and the track was about $515,000.
The field at West cost about $488,000. The cost there was less because, unlike at South, the areas outside the end zones are not covered by turf.
The Albany School Board approved the field replacements last spring as part of a much longer list of maintenance projects around the school district.
The useful life of a synthetic-turf football field is said to be 10 to 12 years. If that holds true in Albany’s case, the city’s high schools will have to replace their fields again no later than 2038. (hh)
The only thing missing at South Albany High’s new field and track are the lane markings on the track.
The bike got me to the RedHawks’ stadium Saturday for a look at the new field and track.
Looks great at each school….better than a pallet of toilets & sinks….oh my
Spent many falls watching the Bulldogs WAHS (AUHS if before 1972) play football on that turf. I remember the homecoming games with the big bonfire in the parking lot before that key game. I only lived 1/4 mile away and so even when young (under 12) I could here the cheering at the game, with windows open, when I was in bed by 8pm on a Friday night. I ran track meets around that WAHS turf in HS, though never played football (busy with cross country). I am glad the tradition continues and that WAHS sports continue on as the best in the state.
Those fields look nice. How did 10+ years go by so fast. Time is funny that way. A few years ago some of the homes in our neighborhood started getting new roofs. I’m thinking those houses are brand new, built after we moved here. Oh yeah, built in 1991. Time flies when you start getting older I quess.
West needs to pave their parking lot on Elm street.
Agreed. A token Toll fee for the Public using facilities, accessing them thru Charlie’s Gate. What better way to pay homage to Charlie?
Looks great! All the more reason not to let neighboring communities have organized events at our facilities without paying something to help cover the maintenance of the place.
Who are these neighboring communities and what events do they hold?. Just curious.
The first few years of this decade the South Albany football field was used as a regional soccer facility for adults from outside our area quite heavily. It was a challenge for local youth teams to use the place.
In reference to Kalina’s comment, if any Albany resident had a toilet or old sink in their yard, they would probably get a call from the police dept. (the non-emergency branch) and be reminded that city code does not allow such items to be in yards…that is, toilets and sinks that have not been re-purposed into containers for flowering plants! But Lepman seems to have “favored building mogul” status with the city, so he has dozens of toilets and sinks on one of his many properties.
It looks incredibly sterile and plastic. Likely the most economical, given the maintenance cost of natural turf. It’s just sad to see things look so artificial.
I agree. The NFL is going back to natural turf. Natural turf is safer for the players is what I read. Athletes have more injuries from taking bad falls on artificial turf. Thanks for commenting. You are right that it looks so weirdly sterile and artificial! Also, looks like
Albany is a rich as all get out and can spend thousands (that total to a million or more between the 2 high schools) and doesn’t have a money care in the world.
I recently did a 4 mile walk on the new track at South Albany. Wow!!! That was incredible. In my running days I spent many hours on that old track. Such great times & memories. It definitely lengthened my running career. Wish I could have gotten a tiny piece of it to display in my office.