On any given weeknight at the start of the school year, the overhead lights at Coventry Memorial Stadium beam down on the boys or girls soccer team as players weave their way across the field, intent on scoring a goal.
On crisp fall Friday nights, local football fans file into the stands donning blue and gold while the marching band treads like picnic ants across the field.
But once the national anthem starts playing, many fans aren’t able to find the measly flag tucked in the corner of the stadium. Some nights, the flag might not be flying at all.
Bill Morisak, a dentist in Akron, took note of the missing flag one night at his daughter’s soccer game last year and knew something needed to be done.
“I’m the first person to tell someone to take their hat off during the national anthem,” Morisak said. “I’m very sentimental to the national anthem. I don’t think it gets the respect it always needs.”
Determined to fill a need, Morisak and 12 other community members banded together in an initiative called “Raise the Flag” to earn enough money to purchase a new flag, flagpole, foundation, lighting and landscape to display at the stadium.
The group isn’t striving for an average flag, though. Setting sky-high goals, they hope to purchase a 60-foot flagpole and top it with a 12-by-18-foot flag that will be visible across the township, situated somewhere between the stadium and the new high school.
Inspiration for the mammoth patriotic display arose when Morisak went to Hoover Stadium in North Canton last year and saw its display of similar proportions.
“They had a magnificent pole, just a monster, and I was so jealous,” Morisak said.
The image remained in his mind until that night at his daughter’s soccer game. From then on, he decided to get involved and worked to bring the vision to his own hometown.
Morisak began talking to the school officials and quickly realized many people supported his vision. One night at a football game, he mentioned his project to the woman next to him. She immediately pulled money from her purse to donate to the cause.
“She said, ‘make this happen,’ so that kind of moved me to keep going forward,” Morisak said. “That’s when I knew we were on to something.”
He spoke with people at school board meetings and patients at his dental office, and he soon recruited other members passionate about the cause, many of whom have a deep connection with the district.
“My grandmother graduated from the first graduating class from Coventry, so I bleed blue and gold,” said Deb Willis, a member of the group who has taught in Coventry for 25 years. “I live here, I teach here, so I really have a lot vested in this too.”
Raise the Flag has met almost every Monday since November. Together, the group has secured a variety of donated services, including flag installation from CT Taylor Construction, architecture from GDP Group and lighting from an anonymous source.
Jackie and Richard Acker, a married couple on the project, had a son graduate from Coventry schools. Jackie can recall watching the stadium being built.
“We’ve been community supporters for a long time,” Jackie said. “It’s a family affair.”
The new flag comes at a time of transition for Coventry as it works through a fiscal emergency and shifts to new school buildings. The display, set to be installed tentatively in late June, will arrive just before the new high school building is finished.
Bob Wohlgamuth, president of the Coventry Local Board of Education, said the high school’s construction is “on time and under budget” and is set to finish July 22.
In the meantime, the district is working on moving teachers to their new respective buildings as the elementary school moves to the old high school and the middle school moves to modular units while it is being renovated.
Later this month, the district will get an update on the fiscal audit as the state works to assist the district. Coventry’s levy to support general fund operations failed for the second time last week.
“We recognize that Coventry school system has financial issues, and this is a total grass-roots effort,” Morisak said.
The group has made several fundraising efforts to reach its $15,000 goal, reaching out to local companies and placing donation bins in different businesses.
“There’s really no personal agenda here,” Morisak said. “It’s the end result. We can’t wait to see that thing lit up on a hot summer night, just waving in the wind.”
To make a tax-deductible donation, a check may be made payable to Coventry Schools Foundation.
Otherwise, checks may be made payable to “Raise the Flag” and sent to 3515 Manchester Road, Akron. To donate online, visit https://www.gofundme.com/covraisetheflag.
Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com.