Old stadium lights come down

WORLAND - The nearly 60-year-old light poles at the old Worland High School football field came down Thursday.

The lights have not been used for years, with the transformer taken down at least eight years ago, according to Worland Community Center Complex facilities manager Rick Phillips.

Phillips said the past two or three Worland mayors have requested the poles come down as they have aged and deteriorated. However, due to budget constraints he has been unable to do the project.

With voters approving the one-cent optional sales tax funding in 2014, he said he has some additional funding for projects such as this. He contracted Carrell Tree Service of Worland to take down the lights and the poles.

The lights, made of aluminum, will be sold as scrap metal with funds going back to the WCCC for additional maintenance projects. The poles Phillips is sawing up to be used as firewood or fire starter, he said.

The project began Thursday but Phillips said it could take two days to finish.

The field is now the back grassy area used for Culture Fest and other WCCC events, but it was the high school football field for many years, even after the new high school was built and the facility which is now the community center was the junior high.

Phillips and Dean Carrell, both said they remember the field being used by the Warriors until Warrior Stadium next to the new high school was constructed; although they could not recall the exact year.

The final game at what became called "the junior high field" was Oct. 23, 1981, against Riverton.

Construction on the high school was completed in 1965 with it opening in September 1965.

Warrior Stadium was not built until 1982 with the first game held Aug. 27 against Thermopolis. Terry Pyer remembers scoring the first points in the new stadium on a safety on a punt.