Aldine ISD Spring 2024

AISD NEWS

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NEW THORNE STADIUM CONSTRUCTION ON SCHEDULE TO BE COMPLETED BY JULY

Blake Ware is coming home. The MacArthur High School graduate was recently named head football coach and athletic coordinator at the school from where he graduated in 1989. Ware played tight end for former MacArthur head coach Bob Alpert. As a sophomore and junior, Ware and his teammates reached the quarterfinals. After graduating from Texas Southern University with a history degree, Ware went to work in the restaurant business where he met his wife Trina, a graduate of Eisenhower High School. He began coaching his brother’s little league foot ball teams and that’s where the coaching bug bit him. “I went and visited with coach Alpert and told him I wanted to become a coach,” Ware said. “He told me it would be tough, The construction of the new Thorne Stadium is on track to be completed by July, according to Chief Operations Officer Fred Washington. “The project is on schedule with a projected substantial completion in July so it will be ready for the start of the 2024 high school football season,” Washington said. “From an operations perspective, we are excited to have the Thorne project kick off the significant improvements that will take place across the district. We are confident Thorne Stadium will be a beautiful facil ity providing a first-class experience for our student-athletes, performing arts students and fans.” Dre Thompson, Executive Director of Athletics, said the district will host three scrimmages in the new Thorne Stadium prior to the start of the 2024 high school football season. The first weekend of the 2024 season will be the weekend of Aug. 29-31.

Once construction is completed, the mul tipurpose stadium will continue to host a variety of events every year. The stadium has been designed as a state-of-the-art facility that will enhance the student and community experience. It will have a new press box, new concession stands, new restrooms, a new football field, concrete bleachers and platforms, and a front en trance on the West Side of the stadium.

One of the unique features of the new Thorne Stadium will include customized LED lights on the West Side and East Side of the stadium that can be used to highlight the hosting team’s colors. The stadium will have a seating capacity of 10,000 with two tiers of seating. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Jan. 20, 2023.

BLAKE WARE RETURNS TO HIS ROOTS AS HEAD COACH AT MACARTHUR HIGH SCHOOL

but it’s something I wanted to do. I love it (coaching).” Twenty-eight years later, Ware is still loving coaching and is looking forward to making the Generals relevant again in football. MacArthur roots run deep in the Ware family. His mother and father are both MacArthur grads, and he has 15 other relatives who went to school there. Ware said he was thankful for the opportunity to return to his alma mater and looks forward to the challenge of turning the MacArthur football program around and he’s looking forward to that challenge. “I am,” when asked if he was excited about taking over the program he once played for. “We’re going to see if we can make a difference. This is a homecoming, for sure.”

Aldine ISD Executive Director of Athlet ics Dre Thompson said he was excited Ware is returning to the district where he was educated and competed in sports as a young man. “When you look at where we are with MacArthur football and the plan it’s going to need for Big Red, Coach Ware was the right choice,” Thompson said. “He has the experience and the skill set to make it happen.”

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