Football fans heading to Citizens Field tonight to see Gainesville High School take on Santa Fe High will see a new moniker in place, as the facility is dedicated as the James F. Niblack Athletic Complex.

Niblack, the longtime head football coach at GHS who died in 2007, will have his name on the scoreboard in the north end zone of the football field.

Tonight’s pre-game ceremony will mark a centennial of football at GHS and also the 30th anniversary of Niblack leading the 1980 football team to a state championship victory.

Alachua County Schools Superintendent Dan Boyd, principal of GHS during the championship year, said the game is befitting since Niblack’s first head coaching job was at Santa Fe in 1958.

Niblack went on to lead the Purple Hurricanes during the 1959-73 seasons and again in the 1979-80 season.

Boyd, who will conduct the dedication ceremony during tonight’s pre-game activities, said if not for Niblack’s efforts in working with the School Board and city officials, the complex would not exist.

“We are not removing any of the names that are already out there and it will still be known as Citizens Field, but this just commemorates the historical link between Niblack and the facility,” Boyd said.

Since the 1980s, the ballpark has also been referred to as the Milton Lewis Veterans Stadium in honor of the first Alachua County resident killed in World War II.

Mark McGriff, president of the GHS Letterman Association, which spearheaded the effort, said honoring Niblack by naming the athletic complex after him is well warranted and long overdue.

“It’s an honor he would likely feel was unnecessary. He was not one for glory or individual accolades,” McGriff said. “But deep down he would have been honored but would not have shown it publicly.”

Niblack, an alumnus of GHS, went on to have a long career in coaching football including stints as an assistant coach at the University of Florida under Doug Dickey and Charley Pell. He also held coaching positions in the NFL, the World Football League, the Canadian Football League, the United States Football League, the Professional Football League of Europe, the Arena Football League and the Arena Football League II.

Boyd said Niblack set a standard of playing the best players no matter their race and credits the coach for helping ease the school’s integration in the late 1960s with Lincoln High School.

“The students from Lincoln knew they were going to get a fair shake on the team and that made it easier to blend the student bodies and that is one of his greatest contributions,” Boyd said.

McGriff remembers that as a player, “things were done Niblack’s way or you were not a part of the team.”

Niblack, he said, instilled life lessons, discipline and had a knack for getting the best out of a player.

During halftime at tonight’s game, Niblack will be inducted into the GHS Football Hall of Fame along with a dozen other coaches and players, including the 1980 state championship team.

Contact Harriet Daniels at harriet.daniels@gvillesun.com or 338-3166.

James Niblack Athletic Complex

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James Niblack Athletic Complex

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