ABS ballpark expected to be ready in 2009

By Sonny Turner
sonny@athensnews-courier.com

April 19, 2008 09:04 pm

— Construction on a new $300,000 ballpark for Athens Bible School is on schedule and should open for play next spring, ABS Principal Joe Olson said Friday.
“We will seed it with Bermuda grass in the next two weeks and will put gravel down for the road and parking lot after that,” Olson said.
The new complex is being built on U.S. 31 just north of the Alabama 251 intersection. When completed, it will house baseball, softball, soccer and other ball fields including tennis courts and a retention pond.
The project is the second phase of a plan to build a new school at the site.
Olson said the school hopes to raise $12 million by 2020 to build the new school on the 40 acres. He said much of the money needed for the first two phases of construction has already been raised.
“We’ve got to raise a lot of money — $10 to $12 million,” Olson said. “That will come from projects like the Gene Stallings banquet we held recently and, hopefully, from donors.”
Former Super Bowl MVP and NFL Hall-of-Famer Bart Starr will be in Athens Monday to speak at the Athens Bible School Benefit Dinner. Funds raised from that event will also benefit the project, school officials said.
The benefit will be at 6 p.m. in the ABS gym. Olson said tickets still available. Seats are $100 each and a table for six is $500.
Contact the school for more information.
A new school is needed because school officials said ABS has outgrown its campus at Forrest and East Washington streets.
“The school is getting old, plus we need more than 30 acres for accreditation,” Olson said. “The campus is sitting on only about nine acres, and that makes a big difference.”
Olson said he has no idea what will be done with the old school when students move.
By the time students move into the new school, there will be 600 students enrolled at the school, officials said. ABS currently has 347 students.