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If you have taken a trip to Allen Layne stadium recently you may have been surprised to see a new addition to the historic stadium. Downey High schools athletic department has recently expanded its horizons with the installation of its newest project, the electronic scoreboard. It may seem like a new project to most but it may surprise you that the accumulation of this project has been in the works for roughly 2 years. The idea of the jumbotron was first brought up by Downey High schools own Athletic Director, Mr. Rand, some time ago, when he sought to expand the sports experience at Downey. Rand reached out to several scoreboard companies that would be interested in the project and brought it to the attention of the DUSD superintendent Dr. Garcia. Once the District approved the project they allowed the Jumbotron to be installed not only at Downey High school but at Warren High school as well.

When asked about the extent of features the jumbotron is capable of, Rand stated “It can do pretty much anything you want it to do. It’s kinda like a TV, we can play movies up there, and we can pretty much do anything on it. We can obviously keep score, we can show videos. We can use it for advertising, pretty much anything, anything a TV does it does.”

With the software that is built into the Jumbotron, Rand could be able to download an app on his iPhone, record 10-15 second highlights on the field, and upload them straight to the jumbotron. 

For track and field, athletes and coaches are excited about the new automatic timing system which will be displaying timed results in real-time on the jumbotron. Boys and girls track and field coach, Coach Gleason expresses his feelings by saying “We are hoping that we will be able to use it for the conference championship this year which is the first time the conference championship is being held. – It would enhance the track meet. It’s kinda nice that you can look, watch the race, see the finish, see the results from anywhere in the stadium, so the potential is pretty cool, what it could do not only for football but for all the other sports as well as track and field.”

Athletes from other sports such as varsity football player Anthony Francis,11, are excited about the jumbotron as well, saying “I’m really excited and can’t wait to see us play there. Having us on the screens is like a great opportunity. Just blessed, hope to see myself up there”.

Rand’s goal is to have the scorekeepers and officials involved, to keep track of the game via the jumbotron, but through video and graphics he hopes to ultimately incorporate the classes already provided at DHS and make the jumbotron student-driven.

 As for when the scoreboard will make its official debut is still pending. Rand stated “I don’t have a timeline yet from the district, obviously it’s up but They need to connect all the electrical and the data the Wi-Fi, all that stuff. I’m hoping within the next month. Part of it is based on the weather too.” 

If you were wondering if there are more projects to look out for on campus, here is what Mr. Rand had to say about the potential for up-and-coming campus improvements, “Well we got the turf last summer, we got the scoreboard, the track is supposed to be redone the following summer [Summer of 2024]. Depending on how this goes [Jumbotron] we would next want to get a video board in the gym.” 

As the installation of the Jumbotron comes to fruition, Downey High school patiently awaits the arrival of the towering scoreboard to illuminate Allen Layne stadium for years to come. Special thanks to Coach Gleason, Anthony Francis, and Athletic Director Mr. Rand.