The Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education voted Monday to name what will be the district’s newest stadium after the family of a local businessman who founded a nonprofit that has spent the last 12 years aggressively working to upgrade the district’s athletic facilities.
A stadium that will be built at John Marshall Enterprise High School will be known as McLaughlin Family Stadium, in honor of Liz and Tim McLaughlin, who founded Fields and Futures, an organization that’s completed 70 construction projects at 17 middle and high school campuses across the district. Fields and Futures also has established a perpetual field maintenance fund to help ensure fields are cared for in the future.
The idea behind Fields and Futures, Tim McLaughlin has said, is there is a direct link between athletics and the academic mission of schools, and that every child should have the opportunity to play a sport they love on quality maintained fields with resources and support to enhance their experience.