Capaha Field adds upgrade for baseball fans courtesy of SEMO, City of Cape
Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com
Throughout her storied and Hall of Fame-caliber career as a college coach and administrator, Cindy Gannon developed a keen sense of observance.
With that eye for opportunity, Gannon saw a possibility while watching a Southeast Missouri State football game last fall, and the result will resonate for years to come for baseball fans at Capaha Field.
Gannon, who now serves as the assistant general manager for the Cape Catfish, looked up at the rows of red chair-back seats lining the soon-to-be-demolished Houck Stadium and had a thought.
“I was looking over at the grandstand and reminiscing about how many times that I had sat over there,” Gannon recalled, “and I thought ‘I wonder what they are going to do with those chairs?’”
It turns out, Houck Stadium – or at least part of it – will live to see another day, in fact many, many days.
Gannon proposed to Angela Meyer, who is the SEMO Director of Facility Management, and Redhawk Athletic Director Brady Barke, to move the seats to Capaha Field.
SEMO worked with the Cape Girardeau Parks Department, which ironically is overseen by Doug Gannon, Cindy’s brother, and the two parties figured out the logistics involved in the project.
“We took one of them over to (Capaha) to see if it would work,” Barke said. “We measured it out and figured out how many we could fit over there. We just worked it into our demolition plans.”
City of Cape Girardeau workers found nice enough weather (not this past week) on enough days to get the seats moved over to Capaha and secured, which will make more durable chair-back seating than had existed before.
“The city installed them for free,” Cindy Gannon explained, “and the university donated them, so really, it’s a win for everybody.”
Capaha had a limited number of chair-back seats for the past couple of seasons, which were donated by the local Kiwanis Club, according to Cindy. However, she said, “those were just temporary until we could get another option.”
The entire grandstand at Capaha Field is now lined with chair-back seating, and Barke is thrilled with how the project turned out.
“It’s a really nice upgrade,” Barke said. “It looks good, and I like the splash of (SEMO) red.”
The first baseball game of the 2022 season is (strangely enough) just a few weeks away.
The Redhawks baseball squad, who are the defending Ohio Valley Conference champions, will host Bellarmine for a three-game series beginning Feb. 25 at 3 p.m.