Aging Albi still has an appeal to players, coaches

You drive up to the place and you see why folks in Spokane want to build a newer one somewhere else.

Weeds, dead grass and broken-up pavement outside.

Inside, steps, walls and other parts of the foundation in need of repair.

Then you walk down on the field, and you realize why playing at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane is still a big deal, especially for teams from outside Spokane.

“Absolutely. This was fun for our kids,” Lakeland coach Tim Kiefer said Saturday afternoon, after the Hawks defeated Rogers of the Greater Spokane League 28-14 at Albi in the season opener. “Our freshmen kids got to play here Wednesday night, and they had a ball, our varsity obviously got to play here tonight. I don’t think we have anybody on this team that got to play here two years ago.”

Two years ago, Lakeland played at Albi for the first time in school history, blanking Rogers 28-0.

“This is a great facility,” Kiefer said. “We like playing here, especially since we’re 2-0 here — 3-0, counting our freshman team.”

OTHER LOCAL teams have experienced what Lakeland has experienced recently.

Coeur d’Alene has played at Albi Stadium in recent years. So has Lake City, and Sandpoint.

Timberlake has yet to play at Albi, which seats roughly 30,000, but imagine the storylines — “Coach Alby” coaches at Albi — if the Tigers were able to schedule a game there.

“I think it’s a pretty cool experience, because for kids that want to play at a higher level, it’s just really fun to play in front of a lot of people,” Lakeland junior tight end/linebacker Colton Boettcher said after Saturday’s win.

There’s been talk of downsizing Albi, or tearing it down altogether and building a smaller, 5,000-seat stadium downtown, near the Spokane River, to host football and soccer.

These days, Albi is used mostly for high school football and soccer games.

In the “old” days, it was used for much more.

From 1950-80, when it was Washington State’s turn to host the Apple Cup, the game was played at Albi Stadium, not Martin Stadium in Pullman. The Cougs played a few spring football games there in recent years, before opting to take that game back to Pullman next year.

Eastern Washington played a few games there, mostly against Montana, to appease the larger crowd.

The Seahawks played the Bears at Albi in a preseason game in 1976. Two years earlier, the Broncos and Patriots played a preseason game there. I was there, and watched Denver wide receiver Haven Moses catch the ball on an “out” pattern, get run out of bounds and into the wall, and broke his leg. That’s all I remember from that game — and you don’t forget a name like Haven Moses.

ALSO IN the “old” days, all the old City League teams — Ferris, Lewis and Clark, Gonzaga Prep, Rogers, North Central and Shadle Park — played at Albi, often in tripleheaders.

Gonzaga Prep has since built its own field. Central Valley and University, which joined what was renamed the Greater Spokane League, have their own fields. GSL members Mead and Mt. Spokane announced plans to build a stadium for them to use for home games.

That leaves five of the 10 GSL schools — Ferris, LC, Rogers, NC and Shadle — needing Albi as a place to play their home games.

In a perfect world, all GSL schools would have their own on-campus home fields — though Albi, with its field turf, is a nice option for late-season playoff games when the weather turns. Just ask Prep, which has field turf.

SO WE’LL see.

Eventually, they’ll either put some money into fixing up Albi, or put that money into a new stadium downtown.

Either way, you figure North Idaho teams will still be a part of the schedule, during the nonleague portion of the football season.

Kiefer, for one, would like to keep playing at Albi.

“I think it’s a really neat environment, being on the turf, in the stadium like that is really neat for our kids,” Kiefer said. “I hope they keep it going; I hope they renovate this and keep it going.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.