Mount Vernon School Board May Forfeit Bellamy Bowl for Cornell's Ash Park Stadium

It's the stadium the Mount Vernon Mustangs call home, The Bellamy Bowl

Under Friday night lights, high school football is in its element, but in the light of day, Bellamy Bowl is a field in need of a some repairs.

Cornell College Athletic Director and Mount Vernon Community School District board member John Cochrane says the college has offered to share their stadium with the Mustangs.

"We share three or four sports now we share facilities very effectively,” Cochrane said.

The aging field means the Mustangs might soon call Ash Park Stadium at Cornell College home.

The thought doesn't have everyone rushing the field.

"Would there be a home field for Mount Vernon, because it's Cornell Stadium?” asked Former Mustang football player, Brandon Kurtz.  “Cornell's purple and white, Mustangs are maroon and white...it's endless."

A 100,000 dollar donation to the school district from a Mount Vernon alumni with ties to Cornell is fueling this fight, because the gift came with a few conditions.

The money would cover only part of the cost for Cornell Stadium's new lights system, a necessity for high school football.  An estimated cost for installing new lights is between 175,000 to 225,000 dollars.

So despite the donation, the community then must make up the difference by April of 2012.

Concerns the donation is forcing the school to move its home field are now popping up on a Facebook page, Save The Bellamy Bowl.

"It's probably more feasible to fix up the old field,” said Karla Marshall, mother to a sophomore at Mount Vernon High School, “but not too involved, don't want them to spend a ton of money on it."

"It's old, it needs updating, but it's still got a lot of character and history for the town,” said Kurtz.

History some say might be lost under the lights of another stadium.