Titans Win First Football Game in Newly Renovated Parker-Gray Memorial Stadium

The long process to modernize Alexandria City High School’s athletic field culminated on Friday.

Sep. 21, 2021

7:40 a.m.

Photo by Alexandria Living Magazine

The newly renovated Parker-Gray Memorial Stadium

It seems fitting that the Titans defeated Falls Church’s Justice High School at Friday at the first home game at the Titan’s newly renovated athletic field at Alexandria City High School.

The ribbon cutting for the Parker-Gray Memorial Stadium was just prior to the game.

The path to modernize the athletic field began in 2016 when Alexandria City Public School (ACPS) first applied for a permit. After City Council approved the project in October 2018. Construction began in 2020 when most school sports were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Improvements to the stadium include a new athletic turf and track, a scoreboard, a concession building and restrooms, a ticket booth and lights.

“Today is such a wonderful day… It is such a dream come true to finally have a game under the lights. This is something that we have been talking about since T.C. Williams opened its doors in 1963. And it’s so fitting to be able to open this stadium with lights under the new name of Alexandria City High School,” said Superintendent Dr. Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr. “As we talk about this renovation and opening these doors, we are opening dreams and we are opening memories for the next generation,” he continued.

The renovations to the stadium faced some pushback from the community. Many protested the removal of a 150-year-old oak tree that was taken down to make room for the new concession stand and restroom building. Residents from the surrounding neighborhood filed a lawsuit against the City regarding the stadium lights. The years long legal battle reached a settlement last November.

“Sometimes when we get to these events, we gloss over all the work that happened, all the struggle that got us here, and this wasn’t easy. There was a lot of disagreement, a lot of meetings, a lot of litigation, a whole lot of everything. But in the end we’re here, and we’re here because people refused to accept no as an answer, and ultimately we’re here because of the students of the Alexandria City Public Schools. We demanded the best for our students,” said Mayor Justin Wilson.

The name of the stadium, which was originally dedicated in 1983, recognizes the Parker-Gray school, which served the City’s black students from 1920 through desegregation in 1965 and then became a middle school before it closed in 1979. Parker-Gray is a combination of the last names of the principals of the first schools that were opened for black students in Alexandria following the Civil War.