Among members of the sports media, there is one thing that is able to make or break a sports facility. It’s that one place where they work, out of the elements, writing, broadcasting, telecasting and filming, known as the press box.

Scores of people worked through the evening in the new press facility during the opening game Saturday at the Trojan Coliseum, the new $10 million athletic complex on the site of the former Portsmouth High School.

Stacks of Gatti’s pizza, soft drinks and water were consumed as play-by-play was done between bites.

To Joe Shupert, who films the games, his perch doesn’t change.

“Skip (Hickman, public address announcer) kind of kept me informed of what was going on,” WNXT Sports Director Roger Gray said. “I got the opportunity to come down and kind of look at it. It was finished. In fact, they wouldn’t let us in the first time I came down, because it wasn’t anchored or something. It was a little unsafe. But Skip wanted to make sure that we had a front row seat, so-to-speak, which we do, and in this corner, they gave us a little privacy. Portsmouth really came through and did that.”

Gray said he was pleased with the location in the press box designated for his weekly broadcasts.

Gray said he likes having the option to sit down through the entire game. Because of the design, no one can block Gray’s view by standing.

“Some places we have to stand up,” Gray said. “You can sit the entire length of this ball game and call it.”

Gray talked about his overall reaction to the full facility.

“The stadium is just fantastic,” Gray said. “I was reading a little about it in the paper. I didn’t get too excited because you hear things, and you think, well, maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t. They got on this. It happened, thanks to some fine folks who had a lot to do with it.”

Gray turned to face the stands.

“When you look across here, and you look and see the Portsmouth High School and Junior High, and what they did with the old gymnasium, by getting the colors the same as the building, it is quite a campus,” Gray said. “And now the Clark Athletic Complex, I think everything is great. Someone really did some work. It really looks great.”

Gray said he is both impressed with the facility and proud to be from Portsmouth.

Portsmouth Daily Times Sports Editor John Stegeman watched the panorama of the field from his vantage point on the 50 yard line.

“The view is perfect,” Stegeman said. ‘For the most part you can see the whole field from any seat. It’s really a neat facility.”

Stegeman talked about the crowd on hand, and the roominess of the press facility.

“It’s great. The atmosphere is great. It’s packed. There are all kinds of people here, and it’s comfortable. There’s plenty of space. It’s probably the best press box, and I know it’s the best high school press box I have ever been in,” Stegeman said.

Shupert was doing what he has done so many times before — head up the stairs that lead to a place where you only have the sky over your head.

“I have to work on the roof, so it’s really not much different from the other place — maybe a little more depth,” Shupert said as he climbed the stairs to the highest point in the facility.

Chuck Jones had his crew from The Zone on hand to video the broadcast, and several other broadcast teams took to the new facility like ducks to water.

Everyone in the box gave a thumbs up to the new press facility at The Coliseum Saturday night, as cheering fans from Portsmouth and Portsmouth West added the perfect backdrop to a classic high school matchup.

As Portsmouth facilities director Ralph Applegate said recently, “It’s the beginning of a new tradition.”