Larkin’s new athletic field named after the school’s first football coach

Larkin High School’s first on-campus football game in more than six decades will be played this fall on a field named after the Elgin school’s first football coach and athletic director.

Ray Haley Field will be the centerpiece of the new Royals Athletic Complex after both names were approved by the Elgin Area School District U-46 Board of Education Monday night.

The names were chosen from more than 320 nominations submitted by the community.

“We feel this name honors the full scope of Larkin High School’s athletic program and the pride, the tradition, and the community that surround it while also recognizing Mr. Haleys’ s transformational impact in establishing the athletic programs at Larkin High School,” U-46 Chief of Staff Brian Lindholm said in a news release.

Built in 1962, Larkin has never had its own athletic complex. Sports teams had shared Memorial Field at rival Elgin High School, located about four miles away.

The 2,250-seat stadium is under construction in the same location as a previous field on the south side of the school. The $11.8 million complex will feature a modern stadium with a turf field for football, soccer, and other sports, as well as a high-performance track.

New bleacher seating will be located on the north and south sides of the stadium, with a press box on the home team’s south side. A 7,600-square-foot building on the west side of the field will house the locker rooms, concessions and bathrooms.

Haley, who died in 2021 at the age of 92, was Larkin’s athletic director for 21 years and served as its football coach from 1962 to 1990, leading the team to five Upstate Eight Conference Championships, two undefeated regular seasons and three state playoff appearances. He coached three high school all-Americans and 11 all-staters.

Haley was a star high school athlete growing up in Missouri who played minor league baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees organizations. He played football at Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University), which retired his jersey number and inducted him into its Athletics Hall of Fame.

Haley, who served in the Army during the Korean War, was inducted into the Illinois Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1986.

He was also a charter member of the board of the Elgin Sports Hall of Fame Foundation and was inducted into the hall in 1992.