Paul Neidig Addresses The West Side Nut Club

The evening started off with Speaker Chairman Rick Weber introducing Paul Neidig.  Paul started off by saying he was humbled to be speaking to one of the most tradition rich club's in the tri-state and one which has a "true since of community." Paul said he loves to go to the bowl and hear the sound system which was donated by the West Side Nut Club in 2002.  Neidig briefly touched upon how in the rest of the state there is an ongoing battle between fans of private schools and fans of public schools, but mentioned how the west side is close knit and no other community could you see two groups of fans (Reitz and Mater Dei) come together for a great cause in improving the west side community.

Neidig relived the day that Reitz played Columbus East in the Bowl during the IHSAA Regional’s.  He sat with former all-state and good friend Bob Stephenson during the game but had to go to attend a wedding.  During the ceremony Stephenson sent him several text messages with score updates.  By the end of the ceremony no less than four people were looking over his shoulder getting updates of the game. "The Bride was a little upset, but the Panthers won." 

The state championships that Mater Dei won for wrestling and Reitz won for football were some of the highlights of his career. "I got to hang the state championship medals around the neck of each of the participants.  I was never prouder of to be from Evansville".

Getting down to a little business Neidig brought up some issues that are facing the IHSAA.  First on the list was the possible creation of a six class.  Currently they are only three schools away from being able to have 64 teams in six classes. A bill is currently being sent around through the government that would start testing for steroids in football and baseball. 

A hot topic amongst the west side community would be the naming of a new football coach at Reitz.  His only comment on the job search was "the search is going very well."

The possibility of field turf coming to the three football stadiums brought many questions for the WSNC Members.  Neidig spoke about the over use of the fields mentioning that Enlow had 30 games, Central 23 games and Reitz Bowl hosted 25 games.  "We have used several different types of natural surfaces and nothing is going to hold up under those conditions" Neidig said.  "With field turf we could realistically up our usage to between 1500-1600 hours of use per year in those venues.  Gym classes could use them, baseball and softball could use them in the spring when the regular practice fields are wet, other teams and groups would be able to use the fields.  There are several big band competitions that we are missing out on because our fields after all the football games do not have the integrity to hold up during competitions.  With field turf the competitions will come to Evansville."  The fields would cost between 600 and 700 thousand dollars.  A couple of options exist for funding including field naming rights to help cover the cost.  "We are also lucky that we have Mulzer Crushed Stone close by to help keep trucking cost down for field prep materials."