CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — In Cuyahoga Falls, the city school district is building a new campus. The old high school will eventually close, as will the longtime home of its football team: Clifford Stadium, named after Earl Clifford.
Christine Stewart. She is communications director for the school district.
It's hallowed ground for Falls alums. Clifford's ideas we ahead of their time back in the late 1930s, and they would change high school football forever.
"The concept of bleacher seating for families to come and watch football was a new concept," Christine Stewart, communications director for the Cuyahoga Falls City School District, told us as she gave us a tour of the stadium.
Clifford's proposals started Friday night football in Cuyahoga Falls. Janet Harrington, vice president and treasurer for the Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society remembers. "I was a cheerleader at Falls High and those Friday nights in that stadium were.-what a memory."
But in 1940, tragedy struck in the form of a Pennsylvania Railroad "doodlebug" passenger trolley. Janet Harrington's father was a rookie firefighter when it all happened.
"A steam train engine came and hit them head on," Harrington, vice president and treasurer for the Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society, stated.
The fiery crash, now known as the "Doodlebug disaster," took the lives of 43 people on board the railcar. Earl Clifford was among those killed.
"He did perish in that fire," Harrington continued, "and they decided to name Clifford Stadium after him."
However, the Clifford name may fade away with the new construction project. The district is looking to sell stadium naming rights, and in today's world of state funding matches, it's become a necessity for districts to generate revenue.
"They have very distinct guidelines about what money can be used to build in that new project," Stewart explained.
You see, state dollars can't be used on things deemed "non-academic," like sports stadiums, auditoriums, and performing arts buildings. So districts sell naming rights to pay for the cost.
It's a sad reality for Steven Shoemaker, Earl Clifford's great-grandson and co-owner of the Clifford-Shoemaker Funeral Home on Front Street.
"Paving the way for the future, I guess," Shoemaker laments.
Still, he's proud of his ancestor's link to the stadium.
"He was instrumental in getting the lights put up, which is what allowed the Friday night games to start, which got more people to attend those games and generate revenue for the athletics."
You can find the Clifford name at the family business, the Doodlebug Memorial near the site of the wreck, and of course, Clifford Stadium. People are hopeful Earl Clifford's legacy will continue in some form at the new complex.
"Well, the old has to go," Shoemaker admitted. "I would hate to see it go. I would like to see our family name stay on the stadium."
Harrington agrees.
"I think people need that history and need to remember those who came before," she said, "And it was a great stadium.
For more information on the school construction project, click here.