'This is his dream': Renovated field house is tribute to beloved Paterson educator

Joe Malinconico
·2 min read

PATERSON — Principal Gerald E. Glisson believed the city's students deserved something better than the dilapidated locker rooms at the field where Eastside and Kennedy high schools played their home football games.

The ceiling leaked so often in so many places that there weren’t enough plastic garbage cans to catch the falling water.

So Glisson was excited when officials outlined plans for $1.6 million in renovations during a tour of the field house in December 2019.

But he never got a chance to see the work get done. Glisson died five months after the field house tour, becoming one of Paterson’s first COVID-19 victims.

Gerald Glisson
Gerald Glisson

“He would be so excited,” said Glisson’s widow, Michelle, as she walked through the renovated field house on Monday morning. “This is his dream coming to fruition.”

Officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday to celebrate the project as well as Glisson, the man after whom the field house is now named.

Not only was the leaky roof fixed, but the field house got new pro-style lockers, new showers and two new media rooms that will let the team’s offense and defense review game films simultaneously. The field house also got an overhaul of its faulty ventilation, plumbing and electrical systems.

Eastside football coach James Magazine smiled as he toured the refurbished facility.

“It makes you proud to be a Ghost,” the coach said, using the school’s sports nickname.

Earlier:Paterson renames Eastside High School field house in honor of ‘icon’ lost to COVID-19

Glisson three years ago talked about how easy it was for private schools outside the city to recruit Paterson players.

“They don’t even have to say anything to the kids,” Glisson said. “They just walk them through the facilities.”

Magazine said the field house was about more than football in a city troubled by violence.

A framed photo of former Principal Principal Dr. Gerald Glisson, who died of Coronavirus complications last May, is seen on a chair as a 30 seconds of the silence is offered during the Eastside High School Class of 2021 Commencement at Bauerle Field in Paterson on 06/24/21.
A framed photo of former Principal Principal Dr. Gerald Glisson, who died of Coronavirus complications last May, is seen on a chair as a 30 seconds of the silence is offered during the Eastside High School Class of 2021 Commencement at Bauerle Field in Paterson on 06/24/21.

“It’s a safe haven for our kids,” the coach said.

Glisson’s widow said he had a similar view.

“He wanted this to be a place they could come to get off the streets,” she said.

The city government, which owns Bauerle Field and the field house, used federal money from the Community Development Block Grant program as well as bonds to pay for the work. Mayor Andre Sayegh called Glisson “a gentle giant” during Monday’s event. Schools Superintendent Eileen Shafer said the remodeled facility would make Glisson proud.

“I know he’s looking down and saying, ‘Thank you for following through,’” Shafer said.

Shafer said some people might consider Monday’s celebration “bittersweet.”

“I suggest that it’s more sweet than bitter,” she said.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.

Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Gerald Glisson Field House Paterson NJ