North Carolina State University Athletics
No April Fools Day Joke
4/2/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 2, 2003
By Tony Haynes
It would have been easy for Ray Brincefield to suspect that he was being victimized by a cruel April Fools Day joke when he received the call. It was, after all, around 1:30 p.m. on April first when Brincefield, NC State's Director of Outdoor Facilities, got a call informing him that NC State's new football practice fields were on fire. But this was no hoax. On a dry, windy day that was conducive to the rapid spreading of a fire, the Bermuda grass surfaces literally went up in smoke within a matter of minutes, leaving behind an unpleasant blackish hue.
"At about 1:40, I got a call from one of my staff members who said that the people using a cutting torch to put up a new scoreboard out there were making some sparks and he was concerned about it," said Brincefield, who was working at Doak Field at the time. "About two minutes later, he called back and said 'hey, this fire is moving onto the practice fields and this is no joke.' We estimated that it took three to five minutes for me to get there from the baseball field. By the time I got there the fields had been burned all the way across to the wooded area near Wade Avenue. When it's dormant, good old Bermuda grass burns like nothing else."
Minutes later, one of Brincefield's duties was to inform football coach Chuck Amato about what had happened. And although Tuesday's spring practice session was held at Carter-Finley Stadium, the practice fields-even after getting scorched-could have been used.
"It just singed the tops like the hair on your arms," Brincefield said. "We told [the football coaches] that they could have been on them. He's going back on the practice fields on Friday."
Interestingly, there could be a silver lining in what happened on Tuesday since the fire could actually leave the fields in better shape than they might have been otherwise.
"It gets rid of all your dead weight, or the thatch that sits on top of the grass in the winter time," Brincefield said. "With Bermuda grass, getting rid of that thatch is the number one thing to getting the new growth to start. The Bermuda on those fields will get greener faster than any of our other fields."
Playing Surface at Doak is Ready: Among other things, Brincefield and his staff have been working overtime at the refurbished Doak Field, which will host its first game of the season tonight. The sod that was laid within the last few months has smoothed out somewhat, leaving the playing surface in satisfactory condition.
"Yesterday was the fourth time the players had been on it in practice," said Brincefield, who has been setting up temporary facilities behind home plate for game administrators and media. "It's gradually gotten better as we've continued to work on it and yesterday they seemed extremely happy with it. The playing surface inside the fences is just like it was supposed to be. The opportunity to let fans in, run a scoreboard and have a P.A. system is kind of makeshift."
A generator will be used to provide power for the lights, P.A. system and scoreboards on Wednesday. Admission will be free of charge, but seating will be limited to the first 800 fans that come out and watch the 12th ranked Pack clash with UNC-Greensboro
. Only one section of grandstand seating along the third base line will be open to the public.
