Join our community-wide efforts to create a new Philip Barbour High School outdoor athletic complex.
Together, We can
create our
"Field of Dreams."
Phase One of this project was completed in 2012 at a cost of $750,000 with the installation of new bleachers and press box at George Byrer Field.
Now, our attention turns to the most critical part, Phase Two, which includes new lighting, an artificial turf playing and performance field, a nine-lane track, a modern new field house, concession stand and restroom facilities. This phase is projected to cost $2,000,000.
Our goal is to have this phase completed by the summer of 2016.
The new Philip Barbour outdoor athletic facility will be funded primarily through grass-roots fundraising efforts of the FOGBF. This group of volunteers is actively pursuing funding from a variety of sources. Community and school-based fundraisers, solicitations of contributions from business, industry, grantors, alumni, citizens and other benefactors are ongoing.
Thank You Letter and Listed on the FOGBF website
Name on plaque at dedication ceremony
Name on plaque at concession stand
Name on small monument
Name on medium monument
Name on large monument
Naming rights to one field
Naming rights to two fields or stadium
Naming rights to the entire recreational complex
George A. Byrer was a native of Philippi and a 1932 Philippi High School graduate. After a stint in the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC), George had a stellar athletic career at Fairmont State College, where he graduated in 1937. Coach Byrer went on to coach high school sports for a total of 42 years at Sissonville, South Charleston, Philippi, and Philip Barbour, with the great majority of those seasons back home in Barbour County. George Byrer’s football teams compiled consecutive records of 9-1 and 10-0 during 1959 and 1960. He was among the honorees at the West Virginia Sports Greats centennial banquet in Charleston, WV in 1963, the year that PBHS opened its doors. George also taught high school English classes during his years at Philippi High School and Philip Barbour High School.
At the conclusion of his coaching career, he served as Philip Barbour’s athletic director for several years until his retirement in the late-1970s. When the football field at Philip Barbour High School was renovated in 1979, it was named George Byrer Field in his honor. After his passing in December of 1980, a scholarship was created in his memory, which to this day is awarded each spring to an outstanding student-athlete at Philip Barbour High School.
The FOGBF are alumni, teachers, coaches, community leaders and interested citizens who truly care about the health and well-being of the students in Barbour County. The group feels that our children and our county deserve much better outdoor athletic and recreational facilities than those presently available at the Philip Barbour High School Complex. New facilities will not only serve our present and future students, but will make Barbour County and its school system more attractive to families and businesses looking to relocate to the area. With the facility hosting scores of events and many thousands of participants and spectators each year, the FOGBF sees that significant improvements to the grounds and buildings are needed to provide a 21st century athletic complex that can be a source of pride to our students and our community. Members of the organization are working to raise funding that will provide a state-of-the-art facility that can provide our county and its students with everything needed to practice, perform and compete with any other school in West Virginia. You can help in this effort, whether in large ways or small, by becoming a Friend of George Byrer Field.
Over the years, many teams, groups and events have been hosted at the facilities at George Byrer Field. Such as:
For donations to be considered tax-deductible, please make the check payable to Barbour County Schools with "FOGBF" noted in the memo section.
FOGBF
C/O Barbour
County Schools
P.O. Box 4
Philippi, WV
26416
