NOT NEW: CENTRAL HIGH FACILITIES MAY OBTAIN NAMES

Students at Cape Girardeau Central High School say it's time the 14-year-old "new gym" had a real name.

Athletic Director Terry Kitchen agrees.

"We keep calling the new gym new, but it was built back in 1977. I think we need to give it a name," Kitchen said.

"We are in the beginning stages of putting together a committee," Kitchen said. "We want to make sure we do it right.

Chris Robertson, a member of the school's Student Senate, said, "For so long, it's been called the new gym. We felt it deserved a real name. We've got Lou Muegge Field, and we thought if a field deserved a name, so did the gym.

"We also thought it would be better for school spirit. We want a name that means something to students."

Kitchen said the committee will include students, school representatives and alumni. In addition to naming the new gym, Kitchen said he would like to name the old gym and the baseball field also.

"Ever since the new gym was built, we say the new gym and old gym. Finally, the new gym is getting old," Kitchen said. "Also, the baseball field is called baseball field."

A suggestion to name the school's athletic complexes came out of an athletic task force that met in the summer of 1989.

"In the process, the students have jumped in too," Kitchen said. "So now it's a combination."

Robertson said it's important that students are actively involved in the process.

"The high school really is for students," Robertson said. "If the idea comes from anywhere, it should come from the students.

"We thought it needed to be initiated by students, but we also need the input of everyone else. We also want to involve a lot of adults and faculty members."

Robertson said the Student Senate would like the gym to be named for someone who would be meaningful to students.

"We thought the name would stick better if it was the name of a real person who had done something for the school or was a renowned coach or something."

Kitchen said, "It would not surprise me if the facility was named after a person. But I know some people would like to see it named something like Tiger Den rather than after a person. It just depends on what we come up with."

Kitchen said making a recommendation will take some finesse. "We don't want to offend anyone, and we really want to do it right. It would be very easy to recognize someone who played here in the last 5 or 10 years, but the school is older than 10 years. We've got to go back farther before we make a decision."

Robertson and Kitchen said they hope to have a name for the gymnasium by the end of the school year.

"We also hope to have some sort of ceremony naming the gym," Robertson said.