The concrete footings and pole standard bases have been poured. School officials are looking at erecting the actual poles and the lights Aug. 22, well ahead of the first home game.

Although the school has experimented with temporary lighting for a handful of games over the last decade, the concept of permanent lights was breached only after the team went 11-1 and marched into the quarterfinals of the IHSA Class 1A State Football Championship in 2006.

“We were told that the team deserved to have lights, and the germ of an idea took hold,” said John Lalor, the high school’s Athletic Director. “The community really came together with a volunteer effort to make this happen with individuals and businesses supplying funds and the expertise in their respective areas.

“This is good for the kids, good for the community, and an opportunity to get that Friday-night-lights experience. We’re very excited and looking forward to it.”

The school grounds have changed very little since the high school’s basketball team stunned the state of Illinois sports world by coming home with the championship crown in 1952, as a small population school against the larger competitive urban districts with more students to access for their sports teams.

Football games have been traditionally played on Saturday afternoons, on the field fronting the school on Route 47. The few Friday night experiments almost tripled the attendance and proved to be events in the making. Over the last two years, fundraising began in earnest and the results were aided by the school’s booster club to bring the effort to fruition.

“We don’t anticipate any problems with parking since there are two lots available, one across the street from the field at the bank,” said Elof Borteson, Hebron’s police chief. “Those businesses are closed by game time, so there isn’t a conflict. The games they held on Friday nights had a higher attendance than usual, but it was fun for everyone. This will be something to remember, and good for our community.”

Lalor noted, “Bill Cunningham is doing the electrical work, and he’s been out on the field constantly to check and re-check positioning, along with the structural aspects. The concrete footings and pole standard bases have been poured, and we’re looking at erecting the actual poles and the lights Aug. 22, well ahead of the first home game.”

Lalor also said that the cost for the complete installation and materials will amount to just under $54,000. He stressed that because of the community volunteers pitching in, and the donations, the cost easily could have doubled from what the actual outlay will be.

“We’ve had such an outpouring of support that to not say this is a community effort would be wrong,” he said. “The school’s Booster Club has really helped with putting this together, and the fundraising is still ongoing.”

Community members, including Joel Strauss, an officer with the school’s Booster Club, and Paul Glenn, of PSM Architecture, were both involved with the excavation of the spots where the light standards would be erected. A “GoFundMe” page has been set up, and the local Hebron State Bank also made a donation to the project.

A local high school was replacing its lights standards, and Phil Walters, of the Hebron-based Walters Farms made the journey to retrieve them and bring them to the high school. Other fundraising events have taken place over the last two years, and helped to defray the costs associated with initiating the project.

“The first home game is Aug. 28, and I’m anxious and excited about it,” said Lalor. “I’d have to look it up to make sure, but 75 years without lights on the football field sounds about right … and that will be corrected. Having that Friday night experience for football will be great.”

— Friday night lights finally come to Alden-Hebron —