Blue skies at last

Separated by a county line, city limits and 15 miles of Interstate 75, some Dalton High football players experienced side damage, while others only glimpsed mental imagery from first-hand accounts.

On the other side, at least one Ringgold High player locked eyes with a twister. Another remembers his first look at what happened to the Tigers’ football home.

On April 27, 2011, a tornado ripped through the city of Ringgold, killing eight and leaving homes and businesses a pile of debris. For the past 16 months, residents have waded through a rebuilding process, while neighboring residents and football programs like Dalton and Northwest Whitfield have offered help.

Now, with much progress made, Ringgold High is a day away from playing its first on-campus football game in two years. The Tigers will kick off their 2012 regular season at 7:30 p.m. at the reconstructed Don Patterson Stadium, welcoming Dalton in a non-region matchup that will have plenty of meaning just the same.

The stories and perspectives from the devastating storm are different, but there is at least one common understanding from both sidelines.

Friday night won’t be anything close to a normal high school football game.

April 27, 2011

The Catamounts will be the first visiting team to play at the Tigers’ stadium, which became a symbol of destruction in the wake of the storm.

The twister hit the campus a little after 8 p.m., reached the southwest end of the stadium and ripped up the grass and bleachers before exiting in the east opening.

The tornado wasn’t there long, but the stadium was left basically useless.

“It came across the front of the school and it came across (the field) and then went right through to the baseball field,” Ringgold football coach Robert Akins said. “I was here the night after the storm came through. It was awful. There was debris everywhere, all the way (down to) insulation. The whole athletics facility was completely demolished, including the game field.”

Ringgold offensive lineman Ryan Emmer, a junior, also saw the stadium the next day.

“There were lights in the middle of the field, parts of the wrestling fieldhouse was in the middle of it,” he said. “The grass was tore up. Parts of the bleachers were in the middle of the field and in the practice field behind it and the wrestling fieldhouse.”

Dalton football coach Matt Land remembers calling Akins to ask if the Dalton program could assist them, but at that point, Ringgold was already taking an independent stance in rebuilding. Still, a number of Cats — including quarterback Cole Calfee, defensive end Robert Hardaway and cornerback Ethan Fromm — helped in the days and weeks following through either youth groups or churches. There was a connection, Land said, because many people within the Dalton program have friends and family who were directly affected.

“Our players have families that are involved, relatives that live in that area,” Land said. “They were affected as much as they could be not living there. We really talk to our guys about being a common good, and the integrity to recognize an obvious pain, an obvious dissolvement. That affects these guys, and every one of them recognizes that could’ve been two exits down and hit us.”

Calfee said his girlfriend was the first person to relay the news to him that day.

“I was at my house,” he said. “My girlfriend called me and she said, ‘My dad just left to help some people out.’ I didn’t think much of it but then woke up the next morning and heard of the severity of it.”

Land said he tried to get into the city to reach some of his relatives in the area, but got turned away a number of times by medical personnel, trees, homes or other damage. And he said the event “left an impression” on everyone associated with Dalton football, from the players to the coaches to the fans.

“There was an element there that reminded us that this is just a game,” Land said. “There will be a bitter rivalry that will be heated up and we’ll begin playing again. For that one day, that may be all that matters, but for the other 364 days, there’s life and it’s a lot bigger than this game.”

Aug. 24, 2012

Friday will be the exception to the other 364 days.

A rededication to Patterson, the former Ringgold coach who led the Tigers for 30 seasons, is scheduled for 7 p.m. It will no doubt set a mood for the evening.

Dalton’s players must put the thoughts of neighborly goodwill aside for a while, though, and put their minds on football.

“It’s different for me,” Fromm said. “I can help them build up what was torn down, but it doesn’t change the way I compete against them.”

Land said no one on either side views this as “just another game.”

“First off, it will be Ringgold hosting Dalton. That’s a big game in and of itself,” he said. “But with all that emotion, it will be a huge factor. There will be a lot of emotion. I don’t think any of us see this as ‘just another game.’”

On the opposite side, Slade Dale, Ringgold’s junior starting quarterback, expects it to be the Cats versus the entire city of Ringgold.

“Definitely playing at home again, I think the first game against Dalton will be crazy,” said Dale, who watched the tornado come down and begin its path before finding a safe hiding place. “Everyone in the city will come, and all the stores will shut down. It will be kind of like a ‘Friday Night Lights’ thing. To see all the blue and representing the city and what everyone has done for us to get us back to where we were, we’re definitely excited.”

Akins said some people criticized his decision to choose Dalton for the season opener.

“People up here say, ‘You must be crazy to choose Dalton for the first game,’” Akins said. “My philosophy is ‘You have to play the best to be the best.’ I chose Dalton because I know they’re good. If we can play good against Dalton, then we can play against anyone on our schedule.”

It will be a long time coming for Ringgold to compete at home on a Friday night. The Tigers spent 2011 holding home games at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga’s Finley Stadium and practicing in Tunnel Hill at Northwest. Ringgold finished 6-5 and missed out on the Class 3A playoffs.

“It wasn’t fun,” Dale said. “Every game was an away game. Playing at Finley, you don’t get that high school feel. Everything is so open. We thanked Northwest for letting us use their facilities and such, but it wasn’t the same as playing at home.”

But by this past December, the stadium was basically finished, and it got a test run this June during the Georgia-Tennessee All-Star Classic.

The total cost to repair the football stadium, including bleachers and turf, was between $1.5 million to $2 million, Akins said. The synthetic turf alone was around $500,000. Catoosa County loaned funds to Akins and the football program, and it is going to be a decade-long road paying it all back.

Akins said the program still owes $250,000 a year, paying $25,000 per year for 10 years, and has more work to do.

“We’re excited to almost be rebuilt,” Akins said. “We’ve got almost everything in place. ... We’re still trying to get some fences in and stuff demolished. There’s still some remnants of stuff that happened two Aprils ago. We’re excited to be where we are because it was so bad. It is exciting for our community, and I think it will be exciting for people who knew what we have done.”

Land said the stadium and field are a sight to see and one he won’t mind bringing, at least in part, to Dalton. Last week, the Dalton Board of Education gave the go-ahead on athletic renovations that will include the installation of synthetic turf at the Cats’ practice field.

“They sent us up there to look at the turf because we’re getting a similar product down here,” Land said. “It’s a neat field, great environment and they have done an outstanding job with the facilities.

“My hat is off to them. They did a great job.”

Dalton High School Catamounts

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