Al Glick Athletic Center to Benefit JPS Students, Football

Friday Football Feature – A kickoff for your weekend high school football

By Jeff Steers
JTV Sports

(October 28, 2022 10:10 AM) Jackson High School sophomore Cyron Stamper would like to improve his 4.6 second time in the 40-yard dash.

As a running back, speed is premium for the varsity player.

Stamper and JPS students will all have a chance to improve in a number of ways thanks to the addition of the Al Glick Athletic Center just behind the high school.

Administrators, builders, donors, and JPS faculty and well wishers helped kick off the Center on Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The Center serves as a state-of-the-art facility that very few schools in Michigan have.

“There are only three other schools who have facilities like this … we are fortunate,” JPS football player Koronnis Davis said. “I have already seen kids who don’t play sports in here.”

JPS Superintendent said the facility would benefit all students in the district – pointing to the fact that the JPS and Western bands will be practicing in the facility before the Jackson/Western football game tonight.

The facility is part of an $11 million improvement in and around Withington Stadium. The Al Glick Athletic Center includes a 60-yard football field, a handful of lanes of track, a college-like weightroom, and striping for football, baseball, softball, and soccer.

A $10 million donation from Al Glick and family members helped spur the facility. It is a replica model of the University of Michigan Indoor Practice Facility – also named after Glick.

Stamper and Davis – both underclassmen – believe the facility will help put Jackson on the map in athletics.

“It is going to provide hope and belief in Jackson High sports,” Stamper, a sophomore, said.

Davis believes the Vikings are going to use the facility to be a perennial playoff team in Michigan.

“We have a lot of good players coming up in the next few years,” Davis said.

Jackson improved all of its buildings in the district thanks to an $87 million bond passed four years ago.