It wasn’t that long ago when Wilkes university athletes would suit up for a game in the old mine buildings that used to stand on the land that we now know as the Ralston field complex.

And then, in the late 1980s the Wilkes baseball, softball, soccer, football, field hockey, lacrosse and tennis teams were given the Munson Field house, dedicated in memoriam to J. Donald Munson and his wife, Marion.

Twenty-five years later, the Field house gets a much-appreciated face lift. Wilkes football coach Frank Sheptock was especially grateful.

“It’s been tremendously beneficial to our program. We talked about it a lot during the recruiting process and a lot of people put a lot of hard work into it,” Sheptock said.

“Our development office, our alumni relations’ office all put a combined effort in and collectively as a university, a lot of people made an investment in that part and it really paid off.

“It’s as good a locker room facility as I have to believe that there is in Division III,” he said. It’s spacious, it’s new, the lockers are tremendous and the players received it really well.”

The campaign to raise funds was organized by brothers and Wilkes alums Tony and Michael DaRe, who graduated in 2000 and 2003 respectively.

The brothers played football for Wilkes and wanted to give back to the athletic programs, so they spread the word and sought support from their fellow alumni athletes. Thousands of dollars were dedicated in need to complete the offseason project.

Sheptock reflected on the changes in Wilkes’ football over the years.

“What’s neat for me as a head coach is you’re tying in a lot of different eras of Wilkes football — and that’s definitely been a goal of mine and the alumni and the development people — to bring all of those different eras together,” Sheptock said.

“There have been so many benefits to that locker room project. It’s really kicking off a unique philosophy of bringing people together and it demonstrated a lot of enthusiasm about where this program could go.”

The newly renovated field house was officially dedicated last month and features cosmetic improvements, the addition of new lockers and completely renovated locker rooms.