With its steep incline leading to an arena of white bleachers and a large, green football field, students walk into a familiar environment. Kimbrough Stadium provides a home for Randall students hosting the home football games and marching band practice. However, the ownership of the Kimbrough Stadium has always remained in the possession of West Texas A&M University, until now when the ownership of the stadium will be transferred from WT to CISD.

Kimbrough Stadium has always been an environment shared by both the Canyon ISD athletic programs and the WT athletics program. Canyon ISD has leased the stadium over the past few years on the agreement of a dollar paid every year for the next 99 years. Recently, WT designed a project to build a new stadium to accommodate the athletics program at the university. With the creation of this new stadium, WT decided to transfer the Kimbrough Stadium to Canyon ISD’s possession. Until this new stadium is built, the WT and Canyon athletic programs will continue to share the field, but Kimbrough Stadium officially belongs to Canyon.

“We’ve always leased (the stadium) to other school districts who have wanted to play their play off games there,” Coordinator of District Communication April McDaniel said. “We might get more use out of it. For example, there might be small marching band competitions there.”

The transfer of the stadium from WT to Canyon ISD has been an ongoing process since the beginning of this year according to McDaniel. Both WT and Canyon agreed on the transfer of the stadium, but the transfer is still waiting for a closing statement. Overall, Canyon ISD paid $500,000 for the possession of the stadium. Until the closing, WT will continue to share the field with Canyon athletic programs.

“Part of our agreement is to let the WT football team play their games there until the new stadium is built,” McDaniel said. “(Canyon) will have ownership the whole time.”

Kimbrough Stadium is viewed as both history and football tradition in the Texas Panhandle ever since 1959. According to McDaniel, the transfer of the stadium demonstrates commitment to continuing the stadium’s legacy.

“There has been talk between the previous administration at WT about tearing Kimbrough down and had that been the case then CISD would have had to build their own facility, and that would have taken years to get a facility built,” Athletic Director Steve Williams said. “To own such a beautiful stadium is just exciting.”

Along with the ownership of the stadium, CISD owns a total of 52 acres surrounding the stadium. McDaniel said the plan for the 52 acres will remain unknown until the new WT stadium is built. As of right now the majority of the land is used for parking, which would leave about 10 acres available for CISD to use in two years, after the new stadium is built. A specific committee created by the district will be in charge of evaluating any improvements needed or bond issues before deciding the exact purpose of the 52 acres, according to Williams.

“This assures we’re playing in one of the nicest facilities around,” Williams said. “Kids want to play there, and people want to play us there. It’s the crown jewel of football stadiums in this part of the world. For CISD to own it is quite a feather in our hat. We feel like there’s not a better facility to play in around.”