By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The sight of Millington Trojan Freshman Football Coach Tommy Clifton mowing the field at Millington Football Stadium has been common for years. While Clifton helps keep the grass a healthy, shiny green, in recent years the surroundings have gotten a little rusty and worn. That all appeared to change days before the Millington Trojan first varsity football game this past Friday against Brighton. Under the direction of new Millington Football Booster Club President Chris Denson, a project began in early August to cleanup the Stadium and repaint the grand stands on the home side. “First things, first, the young people deserve a home they can be proud of,” Denson said. “And when they come to this field, the first thing everyone sees is this Stadium. This stadium was in disrepair. It was time to put a fresh coat of paint on it. We have some addition things we’re working on, additions things we want to add to this field. So we had a cleanup day. We had good community participation on that day.” The cleanup involved trash pick up, getting rid of debris and scrapping off rust for hours. The brains behind the grunt work were Denson and other Booster Club members Hambone Branch (sponsorship officer), Denise and John McNeil (facility officer) and Angie Percer (Treasurer). “We had paint donated,” Denson noted. “We had time donated to paint this thing. We decided we wanted trim work. We decided to put Mooney Boswell Field back up there. “Hodges Landscape and Tree Service donated paints on the other side in the ditch so we could have monkey grass the entire length,” he continued. “We’ve had time donated to cleanup the field. We have a company, Titan Steel Erectors, are replacing the steps to the top of press box. It’s a donation and they’re doing that for free.” The grand stands are a fresh white with black and gold trim on the base. The press box has a fresh coat with a newly written Millington Trojan in black and gold. The project took 70 gallons donated by Lowe’s and the McNeil’s Handy Works. Another Millington Trojan supporter Steve Smith of My Hometown Video got the Booster Club in contact with Kevin Davis of Davis Drywall and Paint. Now when Smith uses his hand held camera, top level camera and end zone camera to film the Trojan Highlights for Youtube.com, the backdrop will be cleaner and fresher. Davis’ crew volunteered for three days to punt the stadium and even goal post. “We’ve been pretty humbled by the amount of work that has gone in,” Denson said. “It’s real pleasing to drive down this driveway and see this side of the Stadium. But there’s so much more. We want to help the kids in their locker room. That’s our next project.” Denson, the father of three Millington Central High School students, said the tradition of Trojan Pride is strong in the school more than 100-year history. And his wife Diane has taught him a Trojan graduate works hard to give back to MCHS with her dedicated service over the summer with the Booster Club. “We want to challenge the alumni,” Chris said. “I’m not an alumni of Millington. Denise is not a graduate of Millington. We’re married to graduates of Millington. But we’re the ones trying to put together and get he alumni to adopt certain pieces and projects. “They can connect me and we will set them up with a challenge,” he added. “We want to get them involved not only for football. We want to make this a great home for all, basketball needs some help. The Booster Club, we’ve adopted the whole block.” Denson adopted the task of President back in June just in time for the annual Trojan Golf Scramble. Prior to joining the Football Boosters, Denson was involve with Millington athletics through Wrestling, Basketball and Soccer. Despite not having a son on the gridiron, Denson said he wanted to take over the duties as president to give back to the community, the children and even the coaches. “We have coaches like Chris Michael who could coach anywhere,” he noted. “But Chris is dedicated to this school. We want to help him. “We want to help the parents of these young students to understand the importance of their education, the importance of athletics,” Denson added. “Without their education, their athletic careers end when they graduate from here. We want to help with that by bringing in scouts to also talk to parents so that these young people understand the importance of keeping those grades up.” Denson said a lot goes into getting athletes to the next level to continue their playing careers. And he noted the work of past Booster Club members helped many Trojans sign college scholarships. The tradition of the Trojan Football Poster presented by First Tennessee and End Zone Grill for faculty and staff will continue with more additions to come. Those involved directly with Millington Football have seen the support for years like Clifton cutting the grass. But Denson’s hope is for all who come to Mooney Boswell Field will see that Millington supports it’s school and teams. “We want them to see a change,” he said. “We were able to host the jamboree for seventh and eighth graders for the first time in Millington. That was a couple of Saturdays ago. The Arlington parents came to this window while we were working concessions and said, ‘You guys look better. Something looks better about your stadium.’ “That was Arlington, Collierville, ECS and Houston,” Denson concluded. “These are schools who are important because we play these schools. They have already notice that we are making a change around here. And that is important because that we’ll boost the morale of the community around here. Hey we have something you’ll want to put your kids through. We’ve got a program you want your kids involved.”
For more information or to contact Denson, e-mail [email protected] or call 606-4510.
