Levi Webber has been chasing this dream since before the pandemic.
Next spring, Webber will start his 18th year as Philomath High’s head baseball coach. For most of the back half of that tenure, he’s also been the guy quietly building momentum toward turfing the infields at Stephenson Field and Warrior Field — home to Philomath baseball and softball, respectively.
Webber and then-athletic director Tony Matta first officially pitched the idea to the School Board in February 2023, asking for nothing more than a blessing to go raise the money themselves.
They got it. And they’ve raised a lot of money.
As of Aug. 20, the “Rolling Out the Carpet” campaign had pulled in just under $225,000 in cash and another $135,000 in donated materials, labor and time, from more than 80 community businesses and individuals. Phase 1 — outfield drainage on Stephenson Field, plus a new visitors dugout, storage shed and the start of a home bullpen on Warrior Field — wrapped up in fall 2024 at a cost of $35,000.
Now Webber’s aiming for Phase 2 — turf infields, relocated bullpens and new spectator berms at the baseball field, and outfield drainage and a finished home bullpen on the softball side. Price tag: $190,000.
That’s where the School Board came in on Thursday. Webber asked for $40,000 — split between this academic year and 2027-28 — to cover overages and seed the final phase. What he got instead was $7,500 with $5,000 from the district’s general maintenance budget and $2,500 from capital projects.
Money is tight everywhere in the district right now. Board members pointed to the $1.2 million the district had to cut from its 2026-27 budget after its ending fund balance came in lower than projected — not the kind of year that makes a $40,000 line item easy to justify, no matter how good the cause.
There was a second, thornier concern layered on top of the budget math — what happens if the girls’ field lags too far behind the boys’. Turf the baseball infield first, let fundraising stall before softball catches up, and the district could be looking at more than an awkward optics problem.
“The big concern I have is that all the focus is on the turf infield at the baseball field, and once that’s done, the fundraising stalls out for whatever reason,” said Board Chair Tom Klipfel, “and now we have a Title IX obligation to do the softball field, and suddenly there’s a $40,000, $50,000 or $60,000 obligation we won’t have a choice about.”
Superintendent Susan Halliday put it plainly. More than a year’s gap “gets to be an issue.”
Webber didn’t dodge it.
“Forget the law — it’s just the right thing to do, boys and girls,” he told the board.
Webber also didn’t seem particularly worried about the money. With $190,000 already in hand, Webber said Phase 2 is largely funded regardless of what the district kicks in — the ask was more of a cushion, and a nudge toward Phase 3, which still needs another $40,000 to $45,000. Grants from the Benton County Foundation and the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund have helped, as did a $10,000 matching gift from the Corvallis Knights in January 2025 that the community matched dollar for dollar.
Webber’s betting the softball side of the project builds its own momentum from here.
If the weather cooperates, dirt could start moving on Stephenson Field by late September.
2. Name origins
Ever wonder how Philomath and its neighboring communities got their names? Oregon State University’s Special Collections and Archives Research Center has been digging into local history and the answers are worth knowing.
Philomath comes from the Greek “philos” (loving) and “manthanein” (to learn), by way of Philomath College, chartered in 1865. Founder David Henderson sold eight acres for the campus and platted the rest into town lots; the college closed in 1929, decades after the city’s 1882 incorporation.
Kings Valley honors Nahum King, who led family members from Missouri in 1845 to claim land along the Luckiamute River. By 1854 so many Kings had settled there the valley took their name.
Wren is named for George Peake Wrenn, a settler who served as county sheriff, state senator and Corvallis fire chief before dying in the line of duty at an 1882 warehouse fire. The community grew up on his old land claim.
Hoskins traces back to an 1856 Army fort named for Charles Hoskins, once commanded by a young Lt. Philip Sheridan. The community outlived the fort by a century, thriving as a Valley and Siletz Railroad hub before the timber industry — and the town — faded; its post office closed in 1958.
Blodgett, at the junction of highways 180 and 20, first took its name from a local family called Emrick before being renamed for settler William Blodgett when its post office opened in 1888.
Summit — once called Summitville — is the highest point along the old Corvallis-to-Yaquina Bay rail line, platted by William Post in 1885 as a service stop for railway crews crossing the Coast Range.
Six towns, several very different naming stories. Read OSU’s full write-ups on the SCARC website.
3. Picture perfect
Elise Reese has an eye for a good photo.
The 2024 Philomath High graduate and Linfield University nursing student spent her January term abroad this year by splitting time between Tübingen, Germany, and Salzburg, Austria. She came home with two images good enough to win first place in not one but two categories of Linfield’s 35th annual Study Abroad Photo Contest.
Her winning shot in the architecture category, “The Colors of Germany,” captures the storybook row of pastel-painted, half-timbered houses along the Neckar River in Tübingen — the kind of image that makes you want to book a flight on the spot.
And in the landscape category, her photo “Quiet Winter” looks out over snow-dusted Salzburg from above, the city’s church spires and copper-green domes fading into a hazy winter sky.
Both categories were open to the entire Linfield student body with the community voting on favorites and judges weighing in separately for a Judges Award. Reese’s photos stood out in both.
It’s a nice reminder that talent from Philomath keeps showing up in unexpected places — this time, thousands of miles from home, through a camera lens. Congratulations, Elise.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
