COLCORD, Okla. -- Colcord's already proud football program has even more reason to celebrate this upcoming football season.
The Hornets recently completed a pair of projects inside their football fieldhouse to improve facilities and make things more comfortable and enjoyable for players themselves.
A total of 44 hand-built new lockers are installed inside the team's locker room, while new flooring has been put down in the entire facility, including the weight room, coaches' office and locker room.
Colcord football coach Austin Martin said he and athletics director Terrill Denny sat down together to discuss some improvements and goals to the football program shortly after Martin accepted the job prior to the 2018 season.
It wasn't long after that the community began showing interest in helping out, Martin said.
"We're super excited that people cared that much," Martin said.
Martin said Colcord alum Kevin Smith of Kevin's Custom Woodworking and Lasering hand-built 44 lockers to replace the old blue ones.
It wasn't 44 all at once. The program would order several at a time and Smith would make them as funds and time became available.
The old blue lockers in the fieldhouse had been in place since around 1995, Martin said.
All told, the lockers cost around $33,000 and were paid for by donations, fundraisers and by the school district, Martin said.
The last of the blue lockers were removed this past spring and the final new wood lockers were installed.
"We wanted something our kids can take pride in," Martin said. "We put our kids first because nothing is more important than the kids."
Some of the flooring in the fieldhouse also had been in place since 1995, with another round being done in 2002, Martin said.
The new floor has a soft rubber-like texture and was installed by Calder and Lauren Harris, who are also Colcord graduates.
The Harrises did the locker room first, before moving over to the coaches' office and then the weight room, Martin said.
Martin said the Colcord School Board deserves a lot of credit for the new floors.
"Without them, it wouldn't have happened," he said.
Martin also said Denny, who's a former Colcord head coach, and Bud Simmons, former head coach and current superintendent, have been very helpful in the whole process.
Westside Eagle Observer/GRAHAM THOMAS New flooring is on display in the weight room inside the Colcord (Okla.) football fieldhouse.
Westside Eagle Observer/GRAHAM THOMAS Colcord (Okla.) head coach Austin Martin (left) and senior lineman Sawyer Sherrell stand in the football locker room, which has been redesigned with new flooring and new lockers.