Introducing the
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DALY FIELD
The
TRANSFORMATIO
DALY FIELD
The Brighton High Bengals take the field for their first home game in more than 20 years on September 9, 2016.
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Introducing the Transformational Daly Field
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It was twilight on the evening of Friday September 9, 2016 when Brighton High School junior Jerrod Clark drove his right foot into the football, sending the kickoff high above the sparkling new turf and into the waiting John D. O’Bryant High School player’s arms. With that kick, an eight-year odyssey to transform a state-owned, derelict, unplayable, barren field into a state-of-the-art athletics complex was complete, and the future of Simmons College was changed forever.
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Midfielder Lauren Brandau '19, Madison, Conn., takes the field during a soccer match.
Athletics was not top of mind for Helen Drinan when she was sworn in as president of Simmons College in 2008. But Athletics Director Ali Kantor was resolute in her belief that investing in the athletics department would pay dividends for the College as a whole, and she was armed with facts. “Ali could point to literature that showed a connection between athletics and leadership skills for women and academic achievement,” says President Drinan. “The confluence of Ali’s strong advocacy based on good reasoning and facts led me to conclude that to increase our undergraduate competitiveness, growing our athletics department was a strategic imperative.” “But,” she says, “If we were going to build a major athletics program, we had a major problem.”
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Introducing the Transformational Daly Field
outdoor Simmons teams — field hockey, After the kickoff, the spirited Brighton High lacrosse, soccer, softball, and tennis — as Bengals defense quickly stopped O’Bryant, possible. Her vision for a competitive forcing a punt. The Bengals took over at mid- Division III athletics program required it. field with six minutes remaining in the first quarter. On second down, junior running back “We were coming up empty,” says Kantor. Erick Brown took a sweep 41 yards around left “At that point I was thinking, ‘whatever we end all the way to the end zone, scoring the first could get.’” touchdown at Daly Field in more than 25 years.
ONE BEER CHANGED EVERYTHING Even before she had the new president’s support Ali Kantor knew things looked bleak. From 2005 – 2008, she had teamed up with the Vice President of Auxiliary Services at Simmons, Janet Fishstein, scouring the City of Boston for plots of land to buy and renovate. They looked at lots on Columbus Avenue and north of Sullivan Square. They explored Newton and even the Boston Common. They wanted a field in proximity to campus that could accommodate as many of the five
Joe Walsh grew up in Brighton. A longtime youth basketball coach, he parlayed FIELD FACTS
8 Years it took from start to finish for the Daly Field approval process and construction.
“I believed recruiting athletes nationally would boost our enrollment, and I saw athletics as branding Simmons nationally through our competitiveness. I wanted to change the whole athletics culture at Simmons.” ALI KANTOR, Athletics Director
his love for sports into a career, and in 2005 the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC), which included Simmons College among its members, named him Commissioner. “We had eleven total sports, and none of the members had fields,” he recalls. Like Kantor at Simmons, Walsh knew GNAC schools needed facilities to be competitive.
do something different with their fields. And that day came. Then Dan Cuddy came on to Ali’s radar screen.”
The O’Bryant Tigers regrouped after Brighton’s touchdown, and with just over three minutes left in the first quarter, junior fullback Emmanuel Exilhomme plunged into the end zone from 2 yards out to tie the score at 6-6.
It was at the 2008 GNAC Conference in Philadelphia that The teams traded touchdowns Walsh and Kantor grabbed and two-point conversions in the a beer and chatted. “What is second quarter, and as the players Simmons doing for fields?” retreated to the locker room at halfWalsh asked her. She told him time, the scoreboard read Brighton about the search for fields and 14, O’Bryant 14. how other schools wouldn’t play Simmons because we were using high school facilities that NEEDLES AND CATS weren’t NCAA compliant. “Our athletes were disadvantaged Like Joe Walsh, Dan Cuddy grew because of the fields, and I knew up in Allston-Brighton playing I couldn’t advance the program youth sports. In 1998, he came any further without new ones,” home, hired at Brighton High she recalls. School (BHS) as a Senior Career Specialist for the Boston Private In response, Walsh scrawled Industry Council. Knowing the a phone number on a napkin high school football team hadn’t and slid it over to Kantor. “Give had a home game since the late my friend Danny Cuddy a call,” ’80s; by 2008, he had begun to he said. search for options. “We were desperate,” says Pres- “For three years, I negotiated ident Helen Drinan. “We were with local politicians and tried to paying Winsor to use their figure out what the best way was fields, and we knew the day to accomplish getting Brighton would come when they would High a football field,” says Cuddy.
WHAT DALY FIELD DOES FOR SIMMONS ATHLETICS AND THE REST OF THE COLLEGE To understand the impact of Daly Field on Simmons Athletics, the Director of Athletics Ali Kantor says you have to understand a bit of the history of Simmons Athletics. When she assumed her role as athletics director in 1995, Kantor says Simmons Athletics “was not very well respected around New England. We had a non-competitive program, and it was run to give broad-based opportunities for students to participate in sports.” Over time, despite budget cuts, lack of equipment and no home field to play on, the program picked up momentum. Kantor, who came to Simmons from the athletics powerhouse University of Michigan, brought with her a Division I philosophy. “I believed recruiting athletes nationally would boost our enrollment, and I saw athletics as branding Simmons nationally through our competitiveness. I wanted to change the whole athletics culture at Simmons.” Under her leadership, Simmons’ old broad-based participation bent gave way to multiple NCAA appearances in tennis, soccer, and field hockey, along with regional and national rankings, turning Simmons Athletics into a competitive program. Upon becoming president in 2008, Helen Drinan quickly realized a competitive athletics program would help with the College’s strategic vision to raise the College’s academic profile and visibility. Kantor showed Drinan onand off-campus studies that indicated student-athletes were among the highest performers in the classroom. “The Daly Field project was part of our strategic plan to improve our academic profile, improve our recruiting, and enhance the student experience," says Chief of Staff Lynda Connolly, "Daly Field has helped us do all of that.” “Daly Field will launch us to a new level of athletic competitiveness,” says Kantor. “We can finally stop renting fields from around Boston and our neighboring colleges. We felt like the poor sisters — it was embarrassing to have to rent fields at MIT or Emerson College. Now we have the best outdoor facility in Division III. Great opportunities now await Simmons Athletics and all our student-athletes.”
“I wasn’t necessarily thinking Daly Field was it; it’s a mile and a quarter from the school with no MBTA access, and the field was in miserable condition and needed significant financial investment. So it wasn’t a home run to say Daly was definitely the park that we would renovate.” Meanwhile, Ali Kantor was hearing stories about the fields Simmons athletes were playing on. “The softball coach told me stories about needles on the field,” she recalls. “One day the team arrived and found a dead cat in the outfield. It was a horrible situation.”
"I thought the idea of a public-private partnership was great. We didn't need to own the fields, we just needed to play on them." PRESIDENT HELEN G. DRINAN '75LS, '78SM
Finally, in October 2011, a meeting of the minds was held in President Drinan’s office to determine what a public-private partnership between Simmons College, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Brighton High School, and the Allston-Brighton community might look like; and how Simmons might be able to lease the state-owned land at Daly Field in Brighton.
THE PARTNERSHIP Massachusetts Representative Michael Moran has represented Brighton for 12 years, and had seen multiple organizations try to gain access to Daly Field. His responsibility was to ensure that state-owned property benefited not just the organization leasing the land, but the entire community.
Just eight months after the initial meeting at Simmons, with the approval of the Simmons Board of Trustees; the help of Representatives Moran and Kevin Honan; and Massachusetts Senators Steven Tolman and William Brownsberger; Chapter 223 of the Acts of 2012, An Act Authorizing the Lease of the Daly Field Complex in the Brighton Section of the City of Boston, was passed by the Massachusetts Legislature on July 30, 2012; signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick on August 6. The Board had approved $5.5 million in funds for the project. Little did Simmons know, the process of building Daly Field had really only just begun.
Brighton High got a big play from senior quarterback Nate Hall to begin the second half, a “I was impressed with Simmons,” long pass completion to junior tailback Kevin he says. “They were willing to Brown. The play led to a touchdown, and Erick do a deal that was clearly not Brown ran in a two-point conversion. After a the way these deals had sack on O’Bryant’s next possession resulted in a happened in the past. It punt, Erick Brown took a handoff and weaved required them to look at it through traffic with sharp cuts, covering 31 through a different lens. yards for his second touchdown of the game. Simmons’ boat can rise Following a failed two-point conversion, the Senior quarterback and team captain Nate Hall and so can everybody Bengals held a commanding 28-14 lead. else’s. Unfortunately we haven’t seen that much in the past.” “Mike Moran made it very clear,” says Drinan. “He was looking for a partnership. We were not going to get a resource in his community that would be more advantageous to the partner than to his constituency. “I thought the idea of a public-private partnership was great,” she continues. “We didn’t need to own the fields, we just needed to play on them.”
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FIELD FACTS
30 Simmons holds the lease on the Daly Field land for 20 years, with an option to extend it 10 additional years.
THE MODEL PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP In August 2016 the National Park Service the value of public parklands. What made Field serves as an excellent example of what turned 100, and Simmons College Chief of this one unusual, he says, was Simmons can be accomplished when state government Staff Lynda Connolly believed there was no understood that this was a partnership, not partners with private entities to achieve a better commemorative celebration than the a land acquisition. common goal that will benefit and meet opening of Daly Field. “We have created an the needs of the public for years to come,” “The mission at Simmons College is just incredible oasis — a resource for the public,” he said. different,” said Rep. Moran. “They have a she said, “And this is how you get that mentality of ‘how can we get to yes,’ as “This project required Simmons to do a lot,” resource. It’s a no-brainer.” opposed to ‘what can I get from you?’” said Rep. Moran. “At various points I thought Public-private partnerships (PPP) engage they would walk away. But looking at that “My hope is that this [PPP] is something people private entities to fund public projects. field today, it would’ve been a real shame if use as a blueprint,” Rep. Moran continued. Varying in scope and size, PPP projects range we hadn’t gotten it done. I look at the kids on “These partnerships have to happen around from transportation to IT infrastructure, and the Brighton football team today, and they Boston because there is no land [to spare]… even state lottery operations and building are going to say, ‘Hey, somebody is looking We have to do this together.” public schools. out for us. Somebody cares.’” Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker “Turning an unusable and unsafe field into lauded the project as a successful PPP: “Daly a state-of-the-art athletic complex for the entire community is exactly the type of innovation that makes Boston shine,” commented Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh. Massachusetts Representative Michael Moran [D-Brighton] has been involved with several PPP projects to maximize
“These partnerships have to happen around Boston because there is no land [to spare]… We have to do this together.” MASSACHUSETTS REPRESENTATIVE MICHAEL MORAN
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THE PRESIDENT'S TAKE Our investment of $13.5 million in this project was a sizable one for a relatively small school like ours with a modest endowment and capital budget. How and why did we decide to go forward with the project? We relied on our long-established core values.
CORE VALUE 1 We are at our best when students are first. The Daly Field project not only provided our outdoor athletics teams with the first home field in the College’s 115-year history, but it also afforded the opportunity for our student athletes to serve as mentors and role models to high school aged young women from an underserved population — an invaluable learning and enrichment opportunity that we know can change lives.
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CORE VALUE 2 We prepare students for life’s work. Studies have shown that young women who play sports are more likely to graduate from college, find a job, and be employed in male-dominated industries. Additional research shows that among senior women business executives, 94 percent played sports and more than half played at a university level.
CORE VALUE 4
CORE VALUE 3 We cross boundaries to create opportunities. As a small, women’s private college, we engaged what might be viewed as unlikely partners to ensure the project’s success. We worked closely with an inner-city public high school, neighborhood organizations like the Brighton Board of Trade, state and local politicians, a community little league, and many more to see this project through. We reached beyond our traditional partnerships to establish solid new relationships with a variety of community stakeholders, and Simmons College is stronger as a result.
We make a collective investment in community. Knowing that the general public, high school athletes, and little leaguers would be joining our athletes in playing on these fields, we made significant safety and lasting environmental choices. For example, we installed a Brock pad underlayment system beneath the turf, which is estimated to reduce the occurrence and impact of concussions by as much as 50 percent. We proudly made these investments because our college cares deeply about the health and well being of the current and future members of our collective community.
“No women’s college will be able to survive without academic distinction, and there is no single road to get there. Daly Field is a significant advantage for Simmons as we recruit prospective students." HELEN G. DRINAN '75LS, '78SM
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Brighton High School Headmaster Emily Bozeman; Simmons College President Helen Drinan; Digital Content Specialist Annie Thompson ’11; and Massachusetts Representative Michael Moran look on as Former New England Patriots All-Pro Linebacker and NFL Hall of Famer Andre Tippett tosses the coin prior to the kickoff of the Brighton-O’Bryant football game.
“It was a very powerful message in presence and in testimony of these young people.” LYNDA CONNOLLY, Chief of Staff
With only one minute left in the third quarter and the home crowd growing more jubilant, O’Bryant quarterback Kobe Smith reared back and threw a deep pass down the field. It was Exilhomme again who hauled it in, scoring an 80-yard touchdown to keep O’Bryant in the game.
condition,” Connolly says, “I knew there was opposition to it, and I didn’t know why. I knew enough about state budget fighting and the competition for needed dollars, particularly from 2008 on, to know the Commonwealth was never going to have the money to prioritize fields.”
Following a Bengals fumble, at the end of the third quarter it was Brighton 28, O’Bryant 20, and O’Bryant had the ball.
When Janet Fishstein left Simmons, Connolly took charge of the project in December 2014. “We were at a critical point then,” she says. “The legislation had passed in July 2012. We had anticipated that our teams would be on the field by July 2013. That turned out to be terribly optimistic. There were layers of permitting and approvals that a project like this one — especially on the banks of the Charles — would require.”
FAILURE WAS NOT AN OPTION Lynda Connolly heard about Daly Field before she arrived at Simmons as Chief of Staff in 2013. “I knew it was in terrible
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The College agreed to several provisions of the Chapter 91 waterways requirements, including how the field had to be configured, the berms and the filtration systems for rainwater runoff into the Charles, and sewers along Nonantum Road. The necessary license was granted in November of 2014. The following December, the Newton and Boston Conservation Commissions held public meetings to discuss the project. Brighton High brought the entire team out in force. “It was a very powerful message in presence and in testimony of these young people,” Connolly says.
FIELD FACTS
1M gallons of water required annually for grass fields the size of Daly Field.
WHO IS DALY?
Nevertheless, there was powerful opposition from groups like the Environmental League of Massachusetts.
I realized it was my job to get this project done. Failure was not an option.”
Brighton High quarterback Nate Hall could only look on from the sidelines as O’Bryant quickly moved down the field to start the fourth quarter. It was Erick Brown, who had already scored two touchdowns on offense, who “It was a whipsaw of emotions,” says Con- made the play on defense. He picked off a Kobe nolly. “Every time there was a decision that Smith pass on the Brighton 5-yard line to prewent our way, there was another setback.” serve the eight-point lead with 4:12 left in the fourth quarter. “We had the money, it was secured,” says Drinan. “But the frequency with which we had to meet a new and previously unidentiFIELD fied problem was wearing us and the Board FACTS down. Frankly, I started asking myself, ‘Is someone after us?’ It started to feel like [the setbacks] were grinding us down at Brock underlayment pads that point.” The issues related to approvals came into play in mid-December 2014, when on the last day of a 30-day window for the Charles River Watershed to file an appeal, they did.
50%
“I thought in December of 2014 that this might not make it,” Connolly admits. “But
installed under the turf at Daly Field are estimated to reduce the incidents of concussions by half.
Daly Field is named in honor of Monsignor Thomas J. Daly, a priest who spent 46 of his 84 years in the archdiocesan seminaries as a student, teacher, dean, and rector in Boston. He was a Dorchester native, raised in St. Peter Parish, and a graduate from Boston College High. In 1944, he entered St. John’s Seminary. Msgr. Daly was ordained to the priesthood in 1952. Affectionately known as “T,” Msgr. Daly was widely regarded as an intellect and a historian. He was well known for being a seasoned administrator and for being an exceptional storyteller. “He was a great teacher; an understanding dean of students, and a fine priest,” says Fr. Robert O’Grady, Director of Catholic Media for the Archdiocese of Boston, who also praised Msgr. Daly’s “wonderful and dry sense of humor.” Monsignor Daly held a Ph.D. in French Literature from Tufts. He passed away on April 4, 2011.
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DALY FIELD AND THE ENVIRONMENT — A CLOSER LOOK In transforming a derelict 6-acre lot, Simmons College installed two turf fields. One will be used for softball and soccer. The other will be used for the Simmons field hockey and lacrosse teams, and the Brighton High football team. The environmental features are a source of pride for Simmons, and we believe Daly Field is now the most environmentally sound public athletics complex in New England. Here are eight reasons why. »» Using synthetic turf helps in three significant ways: (1) Eliminates existing erosion from bare dirt fields; (2) Reduces contaminants from fertilizers and pesticides typically used on natural turf playing fields; (3) Eliminates the need to irrigate, saving approximately one million gallons of water per year.
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»» By eschewing crumb rubber infill, which has been linked to cancer in young women, Simmons instead chose the organic GeoFill. Made up of 90% coconut shells and 10% cork, GeoFill is widely known as the most environmentally friendly product on the market. As an added feature, coconut fibers have excellent moisture retention qualities that provide evaporative cooling, making GeoFill fields as much as 40 degrees cooler than other synthetic fields. »» A subsurface drainage system filters groundwater, reducing the impact of sediments and erosion on the bank and wetland resource area, as well as the Charles River.
»» Improvements to the adjacent parking lots will reduce runoff into the river. »» The field lighting system is designed to reduce nuisance glare and light trespass. »» Lights along the walking path and on the site are energy-efficient LED fixtures. »» The scoreboard is solar powered. »» The installation of additional bicycle racks will hold up to 52 bikes, encouraging an environmentally friendly transportation option.
On their last possession of the fourth quarter, a short gain on a run by Hall forced the Bengals to punt. O’Bryant took over near midfield with 1:49 left in the 28-20 game. Slowly moving toward a tying touchdown, O’Bryant was at the Bengals’ 38-yard line when a costly holding penalty was called. With just 40 seconds left in the game, quarterback Kobe Smith completed a long pass to junior wide receiver Amarj Alexander for a first down on the Bengals’ 22-yard line. The game hung in the balance.
FIELD FACTS
6 fenced NCAA standard tennis court sized for singles and doubles play were constructed.
By January 2015, Simmons was relying on Lynda Connolly’s expertise as an attorney, overseeing the negotiations of the Charles River Watershed appeal, which was before the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “I was really pushing,” she says. Connolly knew if construction wasn’t underway by fall of 2015, the Simmons teams wouldn’t be on the field until 2017. “The Board won’t wait forever,” she notes.
"You can't stop, you can't let up because something is hard." PRESIDENT HELEN G. DRINAN '75LS, '78SM
While she admits being “discouraged” by the Boston Globe editorial, President Drinan says she never waivered on the Daly Field project. “You can’t stop, you can’t let up because something is hard,” she says.
O’Bryant's Kobe Smith took the snap with 40 seconds left, 22 yards from the end zone. Down by eight points, the Tigers needed a touchdown and a two-point conversion to tie the game. Under heavy pressure from the Bengals defense, Smith reared back and threw the ball toward the goal line.
“By July of 2015, we were working through the details of the lease,” recalls Connolly. It was a complicated negotiation involving an untold amount of documents, and it required Simmons to agree to several other rules and regulations including parking and signage. Simultaneously, the College was interviewing companies to be project managers and construction managers for the project. On October 21, 2015, the Friends of Daly Field signed the lease. Just 11 weeks later, shovels hit the ground. But not before one more curve ball was thrown Simmons’ way.
THE LEASE With the involvement of the EPA now complete, and no state action resulting from the Globe editorial, Connolly turned her attention to the lease agreement terms. The lease would be between the Friends of Daly Field, Inc., a group made up of Simmons, Brighton High School, and the Allston-Brighton Little League, and the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).
FIELD FACTS
50 Softball, soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, and tennis will host approximately 50 dates of events per year.
After months of negotiations, the Charles River Watershed appeal was dropped in March 2015. But the road to construction hit one more speed bump: “[Massachusetts Governor] Charlie Baker should put the brakes on Daly Field plan,” read the headline on the editorial page of the Boston Globe on April 28, 2015. Despite the legislation that the now-playable Daly Field be open to the public 75 percent of the time, the Globe editorial board argued: “Simmons deserves credit for engaging with the community... [but] For anyone without a child in youth sports or a daughter at Simmons, the overall result of the deal would be to reduce the amount of time an existing public park is available for the public’s use.”
The Daly Field Athletics Complex serves as the new home for Simmons College Athletics, the Allston-Brighton Little League, and Brighton High School football.
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THE IMPACT Anne Forsythe ’05, ’10SM played field hockey and softball as an undergraduate, calling it “a special part of my Simmons experience. The coaches inspired and motivated me to succeed on and off the field. “I know [Daly Field] was a long process that started many years ago, and it took a lot of hard work from many individuals,” she continues, “But the final product is one that everyone here can be proud of.” Helen Drinan views Daly Field as a key component of continuing to make Simmons desirable. “No women’s college will be able to survive without academic distinction, and there is no single road to get there. Daly Field is a significant advantage for Simmons as we recruit prospective students.”
Olivia Lakes '19, Dorchester, Mass., warms up before a tennis match at Daly Field.
"I know [Daly Field] was a long process that started many years ago, and it took a lot of hard work from many individuals, but the final product is one that everyone here can be proud of." ANNE FORSYTHE '05, '10SM
CRUMB RUBBER “What do you know about crumb rubber?” Connolly asked President Drinan in early October 2015. She went on to explain that tiny bits of tires were routinely used as infill on synthetic turf fields all across America. There had been recent studies, however, that suggested a link between the crumb rubber infill and elevated incidents of cancer in young athletes. As a result, on October 2, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced “a new and important study into human exposure and the impact on human health from crumb rubber.” President Drinan was moved to action. She talked about the issue to staff and faculty, but she “couldn’t put our student athletes on that field, knowing this was a carcinogen.” They explored a halfway measure, which
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“I think the most important question we should ask ourselves is, ‘Why do we open the doors in the morning?’” says Connolly, who is retiring in January 2017. “For the students. To provide them with the tools to be constructive citizens in a way in which they feel passionate. Daly Field allows them to do that.
“And for us it is even more profound,” she continues. “At Simmons we belong to each other. But when we invest in this is to encapsulate materials, but “It was the inclusion, when we follow our core value students who informed me on this issue. of a collective commitment to communiThey said that if you don’t know what’s ty, the [students] at BHS also belong to in the substance to begin with, you don’t us. For the next 30 years the [students] of know what is encapsulated. You haven’t BHS belong to us, and we belong to them. protected us.” It was a $1 million point, And there couldn’t be a better group of and the Simmons Board of Trustees agreed. people to do this than Simmons people.” ▪ The College changed the plan to install an organic infill instead of crumb rubber.
Kobe Smith’s final throw of the evening was short of the goal line as Brighton’s Erick Brown and O’Bryant’s Tim Lambright both leaped high into the night air for the ball. The two players fought for it, but it was Brown who wrested the ball away. With just 22 seconds left in the game, the ball, and the Bengals victory, was secured.
FIELD FACTS
800 students, parents, family members friends, trustees, faculty, staff, and civic leaders joined in the opening-weekend events at Daly Field.
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