Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Commentary: Good news for Gorman athletes, fans

FORTY-TWO YEARS Bishop Gorman High School has stood at the same site and its athletic facilities haven't changed much through the years. The private school has always cherished its athletic programs, yet the greatest percentage of its athletes are habitually forced to compete off campus and on rented fields and courts around the valley.

That's about to change.

Gorman, with a number of well-to-do alumni picking up the tab, is going to build an off-campus athletic complex that its backers say will be second to none. The estimated price tag for the first phase alone: $1.5 million to $2 million.

"Hopefully we'll have broken ground within the year," said athletic director Chuck Gerber. "Maybe, just maybe, a year from now we'll already have something to look at."

Gorman athletes -- and parents of athletes -- have reason to rejoice. Consolidating the school's sports activities to a single site will have innumerable benefits for both players and fans.

"As it is now, we're scattered all over the place," Gerber said. "It'll be nice to centralize our situation. In the not-too-distant future, I think we'll have some concrete plans."

The one Gorman facility that has existed since the school was built is its quaint but habitually overcrowded gym, and a new gymnasium is not part of the Phase 1 plans.

"Basketball and volleyball aren't a priority right now because we've got a place for them to play," Gerber said. "We don't have a place for any of the others. We might possibly add an arena later on, but that's not part of the first phase."

As it presently stands, Gorman hosts events like baseball, softball, football, tennis and track at off-campus sites like Hadland Park, Jaycee Park, Sam Boyd Stadium, Valley High School, the Las Vegas Country Club and UNLV. This forces Gorman to rely on the goodwill of others, and to pay rent in some cases. Rent is especially high for football games at Boyd Stadium.

"The city has been very good to us through the years, but it still costs us a lot of money," Gerber said. "Renting the football stadium is a huge expense."

In essence, Gorman isn't looking for anything the city's public schools don't already possess. Those schools have their athletic complexes right outside the front door, allowing for convenience and easy access.

Lacking open ground around the landlocked school site on Maryland Parkway and St. Louis Avenue, Gorman must first procure a sufficient parcel of land for its sports complex. Gerber said there was some talk of obtaining BLM land, and that having the parcel near a freeway was of primary importance.

The funding will, of course, come from within.

"There's been a lot of interest in this and we have some committees already formed," Gerber said. "We're fortunate in that we have a number of good people and influential people who have been very generous toward the school in the past. It looks like our sports complex is something that's going to get done."

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