New scoreboard up at Callaway Stadium

Published 8:24 pm Wednesday, July 18, 2018

The new scoreboard at Callaway Stadium has been installed and will likely be ready by the time football season starts in August.

The Troup County Board of Education was given an update on the scoreboard during Monday night’s work session. The school board invested $50,000 into the $400,000 scoreboard.

“Currently we’ve got a local electric company that is working on the board,” said Cajen Rhodes, director of Troup County Parks and Recreation. “They had to run all new electrical wires to the board and all the way up to the board press box. We even had to add extra electrical outlets in the press box to make this thing happen.”

All three Troup County School System high schools play football games at the stadium, as does LaGrange College. The original hope was to have it working before graduation ceremonies this year, which also take place at the stadium, but the installation didn’t happen in time.

The scoreboard has been built on the same frame as the previous, outdated scoreboard.

“We had to come in and weld 8-foot extensions on the three I-beams that exist there to fit this new one into place,” Rhodes said. “It was quite an extensive alteration.”

Daktronics, the board’s manufacturer, will have representatives in LaGrange in the next few weeks to ensure everything is working properly and to train anyone who will be regularly operating the scoreboard.

“We’ve got to get everybody in and get that on-site, hands-on training for the full day,” Rhodes said. “The three major points we are going to work with are the show control, the front end video equipment and the hands-on integration.”

Rhodes said the scoreboard includes a 10-year warranty and also has a maintenance plan.

Byron Jones, Chief Financial Officer for the Troup County School System, has led the project for the school system. Jones said he hopes to use the scoreboard for special recognitions and announcements during games.