By Andrew McKeever of the Manchester Journal
amckeever@ manchesterjournal.com @manjourn on Twitter
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![From left, Charles and Alison Taylor (son and daughter in law) and their two children, Davis and Kendall Taylor, Judi and T.D. McCormick (brother and sister-in-law), Topsy King (daughter), Derry Taylor (husband) and Andy King (son in law) were present at the dedication ceremonies Saturday for Judy McCormick Taylor Field. (Gary Baker Photo)]()
From left, Charles and Alison Taylor (son and daughter in law) and their two children, Davis and Kendall Taylor, Judi and T.D. McCormick (brother and sister-in-law), Topsy King (daughter), Derry Taylor (husband) and Andy King (son in law) were present at the dedication ceremonies Saturday for Judy McCormick Taylor Field. (Gary Baker Photo)
Burr and Burton Academy’s football weren’t the only winners in last Saturday’s Homecoming Weekend game against Burlington High School.
The Bulldogs scored a decisive 48-12 victory over the visiting Seahorses, to cap off an afternoon of pageantry that included the formal dedication of the new Judy McCormick Taylor Field, named after a 1957 graduate of Burr and Burton Seminary, as the school was then known. She was the school’s first female trustee and a supporter of many charitable causes in the community, as well as a tireless “super-fan” of the school’s sports teams, several noted during the afternoon.
“My wife was the unathletic one in the McCormick family and she faithfully went to over 400 games with me both here and in Middlebury and without ever complaining and she loved this school,” said her husband Derry Taylor, shortly before the half time ceremonies.
It did not surprise her at all when her father told her he wanted to build a modern, turf field in her mother’s honor at the school, said their daughter Topsy Taylor King.
“My mother was a cheerleader at the school and a sports fan for years,” she said during the half-time dedication ceremonies. “She evolved into a super-fan.”
Judy McCormick Taylor passed away about two years ago, and shortly afterwards the planning began for what would become a $1.2 million capital campaign for the turf field, Derry Taylor said. It sits on the same site as the school’s former main athletic field, although slightly larger. It will enable the school’s sports teams to get out earlier in the spring and practice, something that was often problematic before the weather warmed up sufficiently to dry off the former grass field.
“I always wanted a turf field with a big Bulldog in the middle of it,” he said, looking out towards the large green and yellow mascot in the center of the field. “Mark Tashjian told me that’s the biggest Bulldog they could find.”
During the halftime ceremony, Tashjian described the day as a “very momentous occasion,” with the school now having a world class field “with the biggest Bulldog in the state of Vermont,” and thanked those who made the event possible.
After the ceremony, Tashjian said it was a significant moment on two levels.
While it was a sports field, it was also a learning environment where students would learn much as they competed in games or exercised.
“You learn life lessons in sports,” he said. “So this is one more aspect of the educational experience at BBA.”
But beyond that, it was also a community resource, he added.
“Look at all the people here today,” he said. “All celebrating and together. That’s very much at the strength of this school, that we’re embedded in the community.”
The idea for a turf field had been percolating for several years, and would gather extra force in the spring seasons when the former field would be covered in water and mud, rendering it virtually unusable until nearly May, he said. And when the school’s teams went to play in state championship matches, often on other turf fields, the playing characteristics were different. The new field will allow Bulldog squads to be familiar with the playing conditions they will face in those championship matches, he said.
Ed Campbell, a Burr and Burton alumnus from the class of 1970 and a current member of the school’s board of trustees, said he remembered from first hand experience how rugged the former field could be.
He played football for two years before the program was discontinued back in the 1960s and then switched to soccer.
“I remember playing here when it was much rougher — you didn’t want to slide and cut your leg up,” he said. “The baseball field was over in the northeast corner so a shot to left field would be over 300 feet and to right field was the opposite of the Green Monster at Fenway.”
The 1979-80 girls basketball team, the first girls team to win a state championship at Burr and Burton, was also honored during the half time ceremonies, and five of the former team members were present for the accolades. One of them was Kathi Frost Bierworth, who went on to serve as the school’s athletic director until this year.
“It’s an exciting moment having these guys here,” she said, pointing to her basketball teammates. “This weekend brings back a lot of memories and it’s fun to reminisce.”
And the field?
“I think it’s great — it’s great for the community and the teams — it’s very exciting,” she said.
Her successor as athletic director, Dave Miceli, said he was also moved by the occasion. He had watched it being built all summer, but only now had the full impact begun to sink in, he said.
“I’m continually struck by the generosity and excitement and enthusiasm people have to give to our school to make it the great school that it is, and as someone who works at Burr and Burton, it just inspires you to work that much harder and go the extra mile,” he said. “What had been a dream for years became a reality; it took one person to step up and be a leader, and others got involved.”
Michael Powers, an alumnus of the school’s class of 1960 and a friend and classmate of Judy McCormick’s, gave the final speech at the halftime ceremonies, and contrasted the school he attended back then with its enrollment of 225 (now 680) and the two buildings that formed the school; the original Seminary building and the gym, with the present-day institution.
“We were convinced we were attending a very special school,” he said.
Now, the Smith Center, the Rowland Center, the Reilly Center for the Arts and the Hunter Seminar Room have transformed the campus, and funded through private philanthropic efforts, he said.
Referring to Judy McCormick Taylor, he added that he could not think of a more fitting tribute to her than the gleaming new field current and future students would be able to use.
“Judy truly loved Burr and Burton,” he said. “I know in my heart she would be thrilled with this beautiful field. Her vivacious spirit lives on.”
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