'Think of the memories we'll make': Fort Family celebrates new field house

David Shrout, holding the giant scissors, cuts the ribbon for the opening of the new field house at Fort Osage High School Jan. 2, along with other school board members, administrators and students.

The last time Fort Osage opened a new gymnasium, David Shrout was a scrappy junior on the Indians basketball team, handling the basketball.

56 years later, Shrout was the school board member handling the oversized scissors, surrounded by what Superintendent Jason Snodgrass called the “Fort Family,” as the community celebrated the opening of its new Field House Jan. 2.

Boys and girls basketball teams, the band, cheerleaders, students, parents and fans — all in full pep rally mode — cheered as the red ribbon fell.

The ceremony marked not only the start of the games in the new facility, but the culmination of several construction projects made possible by the community’s overwhelming support of a bond issue and levy transfer that passed in 2021.

“This is a historic evening,” Snodgrass said. “A testament to partnerships and community.”

Since the passage of the $20 million bond issue and the transfer of 32 cents of the debt service levy to the operating levy three years ago, the district has renovated cafeterias in its secondary and elementary schools, built new drives and parking lots, renovated the high school band room, built a new maintenance and transportation center, new offices and, at long last, the new field house.

The work would not have happened, Fort Osage School Board President Floyd Hawkins told the crowd, “without your vote and your confidence.”

Like Shrout, Hawkins also remembers the old gym well, having started as a student teacher in that gym in 1973, he said.

“There are memories in that gym,” he said.

But now comes new thrills for generations to come, in this new building with new locker rooms, a media room, training room, apparel store and concession stand and enough bleacher space for nearly 2,000 students and fans.

Said Hawkins: “Think of the memories we’re going to make here.”

The new field house includes a showcase honoring Fort Osage alumni athletes who starred in professional sports, including MLB star Albert Pujols and NFL star Skylar Thompson.