News Release

Ohio Wesleyan’s Battling Bishops Get Ready to Shine
OWU Football Team Scheduled to Play Wooster Sept. 25 in First Night Game at Selby Field

June 8, 2010

Selby Field.

The 7 p.m. game will kick off a new era at Selby Field, home of the Battling Bishops since 1929. Over the summer, Ohio Wesleyan will install Light-Structure Green™ lighting at the stadium, allowing the 9,100-seat venue to accommodate evening sports competitions, recreational and intramural contests, and community events.

“Being able to play night games will increase the excitement and overall game experience for the OWU football team, students, alumni, and fans,” said Hollway, who returns this fall for his 24th season as OWU’s head football coach. “I’m grateful to our generous alumni for their financial support to enhance the greatest Division III football venue in the United States.”

Located on the eastern edge of Ohio Wesleyan’s 200-acre campus, Selby Field is home to the Battling Bishop football, field hockey, men’s and women’s track & field, and men’s and women’s lacrosse teams. It is believed to be the nation’s oldest existing facility constructed to Olympic specifications and remaining in its original configuration.

Selby Field was designed by George Gauthier, Ohio Wesleyan’s Hall of Fame football coach and athletic director, with architectural work by Osborn Engineering Co., the same firm that designed the original Yankee Stadium. Selby Field was named after George D. Selby, who served on the Ohio Wesleyan board of trustees for 24 years.

Plans to celebrate the inaugural night game still are being developed, but will include collaborations with the OWU student life office, Delaware-area businesses, and community partners to make the evening a historic occasion. The game also will be streamed live online at Stream OWU.

Roger Ingles, Ohio Wesleyan’s athletic director, said the stadium lights will create opportunities that extend beyond the university.

“We will actively seek to host high school football playoff games,” Ingles said. “I’d like to see some other Friday night high school games here as well,” Ingles said. “And, of course, we’re excited about having the lights in place in time for the 2011 NCAA Division III men’s and women’s outdoor track & field championships.”

Scheduled for May 26-28, 2011, the national championship meet is expected to bring close to a thousand student-athletes to Delaware, along with large numbers of coaches, families, and fans from across the country.

The Selby Field lighting project, funded with a lead donation from 1951 OWU graduate David E. Griffiths of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, will involve installing four light poles at the stadium—two on the home side and two on the visitor side.

The lights are being manufactured by Oskaloosa, Iowa-based Musco Lighting, and feature the company’s Light-Structure Green technology. The lights use 50 percent less energy and create 50 percent less light spill than previous generation lighting systems.

The nearly $400,000 stadium lighting project represents only a part of the ongoing improvements at Selby Field. An OmniGrass artificial playing surface and an Ameritan FP track were installed for the 2006-2007 academic year, and projects to add a new, two-level press box, new bleacher seats, and refurbished locker rooms were completed previously.

Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities, with more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 22 Division III varsity sports. Located in Delaware, Ohio, just minutes north of Ohio’s capital and largest city, Columbus, the university combines a globally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that translate classroom theory into real-world practice. OWU’s close-knit community of 1,850 students represents 45 states and 57 countries. Ohio Wesleyan earned a 2009 Presidential Award for Excellence in General Community Service, is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” and is included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.