The Scoreboard Saga and Renovation Plans

Despite classes taking a pause over the summer, Gilman kept busy. There were athletic practices, summer camps, and new construction projects, including a new Lower School playground, new flooring in Carey Hall, and, most notably, new videoboards. 

The videoboards are among the first stages of a broader athletic renovation project, which looks to remodel the Finney Center and other athletic facilities and install lights on Brown Field, exciting all Gilman community members. This preliminary stage of renovations focuses on the school’s already well-kept athletic fields. Athletic Director Mr. Russell Wrenn ‘96 remarked, “You grow or die. You’ve got to be adding all the time. So, those are great fields, but if you just build good fields and leave them, they quickly become not as shiny and nice.

To keep our fields “shiny and nice,” the Athletic Department has a few upgrades on the docket for Brown Field; a major one is adding lights to Brown Field. Night football, soccer, and lacrosse games at the center of campus would revolutionize student life. They naturally have a lot more energy, with the sporting match taking place under a spotlight. Currently, Gilman is one of a handful of MIAA schools that are unable to host evening games, and with the early sunsets of late-fall and early-spring, the Greyhounds must start matches at rather inconvenient times that often conflict with mandatory athletic commitments. This deprives outdoor teams of the booming student sections that indoor teams, such as water polo, basketball, and wrestling, receive for their nighttime traditions, like Storm the Pool, Silent Night, and Spotlight Night.

Another potential addition to Brown Field is a press box, which would allow GTV to continue to broadcast games in the inclement weather. Now,they are forced to either pack up and end the production early, or cover their cameras with bags. Mr. Wrenn commented, “That group is so first class and has really set the standard in the league for student broadcasts, and the only thing holding them back now is our facilities.” 

Until the other renovations happen, Gilman will hopefully be able to enjoy two new Daktronics videoboards that were installed on Brown and Chandlee Fields over the summer. They were funded by donors, and, thus, the costs cannot be disclosed; according to Mr. Wrenn, however, the boards themselves, without their mounting equipment, cost around a quarter of a million dollars.

Unfortunately, the videoboards have yet to see their first use because of a hold-up from Baltimore Gas and Electric’s (BGE’s) end. Per Mr. Wrenn, Gilman does not have enough power directed to the school to operate both the videoboards and the rest of the school, so, until the power supply is increased, they will not turn on. Currently, all of Gilman’s power comes from Roland Avenue, but additional electricity will soon be routed from Northern Parkway to the facilities building, the videoboards, and all the upcoming constructions, including the auditorium and the press box. BGE has planned the new power system over the summer and will be installing the new wires in the near future, enabling the illumination of the videoboards.

The videoboards will most often display animations for notable achievements like touchdowns, interceptions, and goals, all while featuring the usual elements of an ordinary scoreboard, including time, score, timeouts, and halves/quarters. In addition, Mr. Wrenn noted, “Students create tons of content, and we can hopefully use the boards as a place to show off that content, whether that's video shots for the crowd or prepared video.” Furthermore, he views the new videoboards as the ideal means of showcasing Gilman’s athletic history. “We’re so lucky to have Ms. Johanna Schein, the archivist, so we have film from some of our sports — actual video film that was on reels — that she’s converted online,” he explained. 

Thus far, Sports Information Director Ms. Maggie Waxter has made an extremely successful effort to improve the image of Gilman Athletics and the gameday experience, which has mainly been done through a revitalization of the social media accounts (See Amar Trivedi’s article to learn more about Ms. Waxter). She will also play a role in the organization and coordination of the videoboards. Gilman’s push to enhance the fan experience is perfectly symbolized by the new technology. For example, Mr. Wrenn shared, “When I used to announce football games, at halftime, we didn't play music because the two adults in charge of that were both quickly running to the bathroom.” The athletics team is working hard to streamline the coordination of games and the production surrounding them.

While it would have been lovely to have been able to watch this football season’s warmer games with the new scoreboards, the date they will be operational remains unclear. In mid-September, Mr. Wrenn shared with The News, “On the really hopeful side, we’ll have them on at some point in September…if we end up somewhere in October, we’re okay; if we end up after the first weekend of November, everyone would be super disappointed.” 

Even in the event that the Daktronics videoboards aren’t usable until after this year’s football season, “I’m sure the kids playing will think the videoboards are neat, but it's not going to make us play better or do anything different on the field,” declared Mr. Wrenn.