Could Case High School's Practice Field get a New Name?

A Case High School athletic booster organization wants to dedicate a practice field to memorialize the late Gene Veit, the school’s first football coach.

The Racine Unified School District Board of Education on Monday will consider a request to name the Case High north practice field the “Gene Veit Memorial Field” and erect a granite memorial and bronze plaque along a walkway leading to Hammes Field. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Administrative Service Center, 2220 Northwestern Ave.

“Hopefully, the School Board will positively consider this. Coach Veit was more than just a coach for those of us who played for him,” said Dave Manderfeld, president of the Case Alumni C-Club, the group proposing the memorial.

Veit, who died in 2002, became Case’s first football coach when the school opened in 1966. He continued as a coach and teacher there for 29 years until retiring in 1995. He was honored as an inductee into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the J.I. Case High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

Manderfeld said the Case Alumni C-Club proposes covering all expenses for the memorial, which is estimated at $5,000. The group sponsors an annual golf outing to raise funds for the school’s athletic department and for student scholarships.

Pending School Board approval, the group hopes to complete the project over the summer and hold a dedication ceremony at Case High’s next homecoming on Sept. 30, he said.

The School Board will also consider boundary changes for some students in the district’s elementary bilingual education program and boundary changes for McKinley, Mitchell and Gilmore middle schools.

Also on the agenda is a roof replacement for the district’s new Administrative Service Center (ASC) and plans for the new ASC computer server room.