School board votes for 'Roanhaus Field'

The football field at Clovis High School's Leon Williams Stadium is to be named in honor of CHS retired head football coach Eric Roanhaus.

"It's a very humbling experience," Roanhaus said Tuesday after the CMS School Board's unanimous vote at its regular October meeting.

The idea was brought before the board at its September meeting.

At that session Board members Shawn Hamilton and Paul Cordova were assigned to look into signage costs.

After Tuesday's meeting, Hamilton said Clovis Sign will donate a scoreboard sign and the labor for installation, designating Eric Roanhaus Field.

"When new turf is installed in a few years that school board will vote on the matter of whether or not to put the name in the turf," Hamilton said.

"We are leaving the stadium name as Leon Williams Stadium, I want to be perfectly clear," Board President Cindy Osburn said just before the vote.

Osburn, Cordova and Hamilton all voted for the measure.

Board member Terry Martin was absent from the Tuesday meeting.

District 1 member and Board Vice President Sharon Epps tendered her resignation from the board Oct. 10.

After Tuesday's meeting, Cordova said a ceremony would be held before Friday night's football game.

"There's going to be a meet and greet deal in the foyer of the Rock (high school gymnasium) before the game. Then we'll go to the field where there'll be a ceremony," Cordova said.

Asked about his career, Roanhaus said, "I think the best thing is the relationships you develop with the kids and your coaches."

"There's several games that were memorable. But in 2007 we played on ESPN, we were down 24-7 at the half and the kids came back and we won 35-31. Being on national TV and everything, it was a big thing for the kids and a big thing for the community," Roanhaus said.

Earlier Tuesday the Curry County Commission proclaimed Friday as "Coach Roanhaus Day" in Curry County.

Nick Brady, who broadcast Clovis High sports for 43 years, remembered Roanhaus' first season as Clovis head coach in 1978. Records show the Wildcats lost four of their first five games that year.

"I drove by his house the Saturday after the fourth loss and saw a half-dozen different 'Home for Sale' signs that someone had put in his front yard," Brady said.

The rest of the story: Clovis went on to win the state championship that season.

Brady described Roanhaus as "a disciplinarian ... (H)e and his coaching staff would push and get the very best out of his kids. Even though some people thought he was too 'tough' on his players, all of the ones that I would talk with over the years after they graduated loved him. A number of them, who were in college or had moved away, would come back to Clovis on a game night and go into the dressing room after games just to say hello," Brady said.

Roanhaus-coached teams won 10 state football championships. He remains the state's winningest football coach with a record of 343-141-5.