Correction: An earlier version of the story stated that Laremy Tunsil was also having the field named after him. It is just the scoreboard. The Columbia Quarterback Club provided incorrect information for the original story. The updated story is posted below.
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A digital drawing of Columbia's new scoreboard, which is expected to be installed in October. (COURTESY)
Columbia’s football program is getting a big-time scoreboard.
And it comes with a big donation from a big-time alum.
Former Tigers star Laremy Tunsil, now an NFL offensive tackle with the Houston Texans, is donating $160,000 for a new state-of-the-art digital scoreboard in exchange for the naming rights to it. The donation covers a huge chunk of the cost of the project that includes a sound system, with the CHS Quarterback Club adding $28,500 to upgrade the size of the scoreboard to 10mm LED.
CHS Quarterback Club President Zack Paulk, who took over the role in January, says it will be the largest scoreboard at any high school stadium in the state of Florida. He says the total cost will be about $200,000 with installation, which is expected to occur in October.
Paulk hopes to have it ready following Columbia’s bye week, which is Oct. 7.
“When I became president of the quarterback club I began reaching out to some of the former players to see what we could offer them and maybe in exchange for a donation to the program,” Paulk said. “I reached out to Mr. Tunsil and his family because I wanted to do a digital scoreboard because a lot of other schools are getting digital scoreboards now, and at Columbia I felt like we were kind of behind from an infrastructure standpoint for a state of the art program.”
Paulk reached out to Tunsil’s mother, Desirae, who he says bought into the idea. That led to Tunsil’s donation and a new scoreboard for the stadium that will be named after the 2013 CHS graduate.
Paulk and the team got a look at it in late March, when Daktronics showed them a demo that included highlights from Tunsil’s football career.
“I’m very thankful,” Paulk said. “My philosophy is you never know until you ask, and so when I asked him and he came through for us I was very thankful. This is huge, it really is huge. And I have to thank his mother. She believed in the vision that I was trying to bring forth to the program. For Laremy to come through for the CHS program and to give back like that is huge.”
Daktronics, a company that specializes in video scoreboards, is making Columbia’s and having one of its vendors, Apogee Signs, install it. Graham Electric will run the board’s power, allowing fans to see highlights, pictures and even commercials from team sponsors during games.
It won’t just be used for football either. Columbia principal Trey Hosford hopes to be able to use it for graduations and soccer games as well.
“It’s going to add another layer of excitement to what happens every Friday night,” Columbia principal Trey Hosford said. “I’m extremely thankful that Laremy is willing to do this for our school. Obviously he played football here but I think this is much larger than football. This is going to be able to be used for any event that we have at the stadium.
“I’m very appreciative that Laremy cares enough about the school to do this.”
Paulk says Thyrone Taylor, who shoots video for the team now, will help generate highlights for the scoreboard and there’s even the potential for students from the school to be involved as well.
“I’m very excited,” Paulk said. “To be with the quarterback club in my first year and pull a project off like this is unbelievable. I think we have a lot of momentum going with the quarterback club and I just wanted to come in and build off of what’s already been built. The team is very engaged and everybody’s excited so we’re having more and more people getting involved with the program and I’m glad to see that. We’ve increased the participation, so it means a lot for the program.”