San Antonio Christian School Honors Fallen Community Member with New Field

An anonymous donor has funded a new artificial turf for San Antonio Christian School’s football and soccer field, named in honor of school supporter Greg Hotchkiss.

Hotchkiss, whose son Austin will start his senior year as an offensive lineman at the Lions’ home football opener on Sept. 29, passed away suddenly last year. The husband of a school nurse and father of three, Hotchkiss’ passing is mourned by the entire community, said Athletic Director Brandon Parrott.

“We had a donor who wanted to fund this field because they knew that if Greg Hotchkiss had the ability, he would’ve done it in an instant,” he said. “He and his family has been a part of the fabric of this community for a long time.”

In remembrance, the school named the stadium Greg Hotchkiss Memorial Field and installed a new synthetic turf.

“When we were making the decision, I met with representatives of many different companies, then I talked with different schools across the state. I decided to focus not on best-case stories, but on worst-case stories. I wanted to know what happened a few years down the line or when things went wrong,” Parrott said. “That’s how I decided on FieldTurf. Everyone I talked with said that FieldTurf stood behind their product and were always there if anything happened. We were looking for someone to form a long-term partnership with, and FieldTurf was it.”

San Antonio Christian School is the first system in the state to install FieldTurf’s Vertex Prime surface. The turf was chosen specifically for its ability to accommodate multiple sports, Parrott said.

“We were looking for a turf that would work for both football and soccer because this is a multipurpose field,” he said. “I talked with soccer programs in California as well as athletes that have played on it, and that is how we chose Vertex Prime. It was exactly what we were looking for.”

The Lions’ new field will also feature FieldTurf’s CoolPlay infill system. Designed to reduce surface heat, FieldTurf’s exclusive extruded composite dressing allows the revolutionary CoolPlay system to deliver the same results and overall stability as FieldTurf’s proven elite systems found in the world’s most renowned stadiums.

ABOUT VERTEX PRIME

FieldTurf Vertex Prime features durable slit-film fibers combined with revolutionary ridged monofilament fibers that were designed to outperform any other fiber. The result is a turf product that offers FieldTurf's patented three-layer infill system with two distinct types of fibers – providing for a natural look, excellent ball performance and a system that is backed by long-term independent real-life safety data.