The Delaware Hayes High School football stadium will be formally renamed Friday at a ceremony before the kickoff of the Hayes Pacers versus Marysville Monarchs game.
The stadium is currently named for George Gauthier, a former Delaware City Schools board member and an athletic director and football coach at Ohio Wesleyan University from 1921 to 1955.
School officials said they were approached by an alumni group about potentially changing the name of the stadium as renovations were being made there. The alumni group approached the board and asked it to consider naming the stadium for former Delaware City Schools teacher and coach Gerald Cornell. The board approved the plans at a board meeting on Aug. 15.
According to school officials, the alumni group will pay for the new signage at the stadium and will pay for a memorial plaque that will honor Gauthier.
The new signage was installed at the stadium last week, school officials said.
The ceremony will begin at 7:20 p.m. Friday, ten minutes before kick-off at 7:30 p.m.
School officials report Cornell was born on Oct. 26, 1923, in Spencer, WV. He served in the Army during World War II. Upon his return he graduated from West Virginia Tech he became a teacher and coach. He taught and coached for many years in West Virginia, Johnstown, Ohio, and in Delaware.
Cornell began teaching at Willis High School in 1958. He was an industrial arts and PE teacher. He moved to Hayes High School in 1962 when the building opened as a physical education teacher and taught until his retirement in 1984. He was the head football coach from 1961-1980 compiling a record of 143-121-8.
He also coached wrestling from 1964-1981. In addition he was the golf coach from 1964-1973 and coached tennis a couple years in the late 1970s. Cornell served as an assistant football coach at Ohio Wesleyan from 1981-1994.
The wrestling area of the Delaware Hayes High School is also named in Cornell’s honor.
Cornell died in 2014.
