New hope for decrepit Ranger clubhouse
Mayor invites community to replace Nicholson Stadium locker room

By Chris Young
MethuenLife Writer

Mayor William Manzi has a job for the proposed Methuen High Alumni Association: Help build a new Ranger Field clubhouse.
Since the Alumni Association is still in the organizational stage, Manzi is asking the entire Methuen community to pitch in to replace the decrepit 1948 clubhouse adjacent to the playing field at Nicholson Stadium on Pleasant View Street.
"The one that is there is old and smelly, not in good repair," the mayor said. "We want to build a new clubhouse on the opposite side of the stadium. It will be built through donations and volunteer labor."
A city resident – and MHS graduate – architect Joseph D. LaGrasse has already designed the new building – gratis.
"We used that clubhouse when I went to school," LaGrasse said. "And I graduated from Methuen High in 1963. It’s nice that the mayor wants to get this going."
The proposed building will be 4,000 square feet, big enough to accommodate a Methuen sports team and a visiting team of about 65 athletes each in addition to a separate girls locker room. It will have showers, lockers, a concession stand, a room for coaches as well as a film room. Football, soccer, field hockey, track and Pop Warner teams use the facility.
The present clubhouse, built in 1948, is 1,800 square feet. Its official name, per a plaque affixed to the building, is the Searles Memorial Playground Clubhouse. Those credited with its creations are the Board of Selectmen, Chairman Carl Woekel, Elliott Vose and Roger Ingalls.
"It is old, beat up and things like showers and lockers don’t work properly," said Pat Graham, MHS football coach. “There is little or no ventilation.
"Right now the varsity is up there and they don’t have enough lockers that work," he said.
City Councilor Stephen N. Zanni backs up every one of Coach Graham’s observations.
"I saw what it was like when my son played there in the Super Bowl game when Methuen beat Reading in 1992,: said Zanni. "I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. The kids deserve something better. They don’t even shower there because of the condition of the place and the lockers are useless."
Graham said Zanni has been promoting a new clubhouse for the two years he has been coach. When construction on the new clubhouse is finished, Zanni hopes to get the old building renovated for the freshman athletic teams.
Work on the building has already started. The foundation hole for the locker room has already been dug and the fittings are in. Department of Public Works employees dug the hole. Bricklayers, members of Local 175, offered their services to build the foundation, Zanni said.
Other unions have offered to help, but the mayor is also looking to the community for additional help and donations, including for the plumbing and electricity. Materials for the building will cost about $200,000, he said. Construction will be of concrete block and tile.
Mayor Manzi anticipates that members of the bricklayers union will lay the brick outline within a few weeks, weather permitting.
Zanni said he hopes to win state grants for building “green” and has approached state Sen. Steven Baddour and state Rep. Linda Dean Campbell to ask their help in searching for grants.
Zanni will also approach various sports organizations for help with fund-raisers this year.
The mayor believes that a Methuen High School Alumni Association could be a great help with a project like this, especially the football, track and soccer alumni.
A MHS alumni association was proposed by Principal Arthur Nicholson and Methuen High English Department Chairwoman Anne Marie Krusell who brought the idea before the School Committee in early December.
Manzi is hopeful that the clubhouse project will become a reality.
"We think we can do it,” the mayor said. “We are going to try."