Parkrose Pool gets new scoreboard and timing system

You needed a telescope to see the old scoreboard … when it worked! See why the swim teams at Parkrose High are cheering the electricians of NECA and IBEW for this really great – and truly needed – donation …

From beyond the far end of the Parkrose High School Community Pool, it’s now easy to read the scoreboard – donated and installed by area electrical workers and contractors. The old scoreboard was where the tiny dark spot is, above the American flag!

Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Even though we seldom cover sporting events, visits for stories at the Parkrose High School Community Pool always revealed a glaring lack of infrastructure – a working, viewable scoreboard and timing system.

But, on October 7, Parkrose School District officials, Parkrose High leaders, community members, and kids from the Broncos Swim and Water Polo teams celebrated the installation of a new scoreboard – more than four times the size of the old unit.

“We’ve really needed this,” Parkrose High’s athletic director, Sanjay Bedi, told us at the celebration. “Our scoreboard was very small; many of the digits weren’t working, and we couldn’t replace the parts. We went to using stopwatches for timing. This’ll be a lot better.”

Parkrose High’s athletic director, Sanjay Bedi, says he’s pleased that the school’s aquatic program will now be able to work with state-of-the-art timing and scoring gear, thanks to a generous donation of the local electricians union and contractors.

Bedi said the new system represented a $30,000 donation. “They started working on replacing the system during the summer, and about a month ago the scoreboard finally went in. We just got all the equipment delivered, and were working the water polo [timing and scoring] system tonight. By the time the swimming competitions begin, we’ll be ready for that as well.”

Flanking Bedi – and proudly holding their Parkrose Broncos “letter” – are Tim Gauthier, of the local chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association, and Clif Davis, from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 48.

Representatives of the donors of the new aquatic scoring system – the Portland chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Local 48 – were smiling as broadly, as were the coaches and students.

“We’re doing this as a community outreach,” explained Tim Gauthier of the NECA. “This is the third donated installation we’ve made like this. We’ve also installed scoring systems for Reynolds High’s baseball field, and Centennial High School’s football field.”

“It’s a joint effort that we’ve made,” echoed Clif Davis of IBEW Local 48. “Projects like these are a good way to give back to the community. Working together with NECA, we’ve done several projects together throughout the years; many of them have gone unnoticed.”

The reason they’re focusing their efforts on outer East Portland, and East Multnomah County schools, Gauthier added, was their affiliation with ACE Academy, the charter school teaching trades, as well as their jointly-operated training programs. “We want young people to know that we welcome them exploring learning the electrical trade.”

This photo illustration shows how little space the old scoreboard occupied.

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