During halftime at last Friday’s home opener for the 2023 football season, Gatewood Schools in Eatonton held a brief dedication ceremony for its new Walt Harper Training Facility, built behind the control tower on the north side of the football field.
“Tonight’s dedication is in honor of one young man’s true Gatewood spirit. Mr. Walt Harper graced the grounds of Gatewood each Friday night in support of his family, friends, and love of Gatewood. It’s because of him that many of us truly know and understand the spirit,” the Gatewood announcer said before a large hometown crowd.
“As the Gators take the field, in sports or any other form of competition and preparation, no matter what may transpire or what challenges may lie ahead, always remember Walt Harper and hold him in your heart, and you’ll be able to achieve greatness together.”
The brainchild of close friends Clyde Harper and Chris Daniluk, the new practice facility was built and dedicated in memory of Harper’s nephew, who passed away earlier this year of complications related to cerebral palsy.
“You got to understand, people that can’t ever talk, it can be hard to feel what they’re saying, but the emotions, Walt was always smiling. He was always ready to go and this field’s attributed to the kids because they don’t understand how good they really have it,” Harper said. “It’s just something to symbolize and be thankful for the way you are because anything could happen. And be proud of playing sports because some people can’t.”
Though he moved to the Eatonton area in 2018, Daniluk said he and Harper met only about five months before starting work on the practice field early this year.
“I’m a Yankee from Philadelphia and he’s a true southern boy from Eatonton, Georgia, but we just clicked,” Daniluk said. “I have a lot of respect for him, what he did for his school with his family, and we knew how much love was there when Walt passed away at the hospital.”
Not long after, the two new friends discussed what they could work on together to commemorate Walt’s life while also benefiting the school their kids attend. With Daniluk owning Marietta-based Deluxe Athletics, which specializes in athletic facilities construction and synthetic turf installations at some of the Southeast’s biggest venues, including Mercedes-Benz Stadium, UGA and the University of Tennessee, among others, building a practice facility at Gatewood was the obvious choice.
Daniluk said he had a couple of his employees “push some dirt around” early in the project, but overall, it was Harper and himself who worked long hours from April to early August this year to make the new facility become a reality.
“It was basically just two guys thumbing it out, figuring it out, and getting some local people that have kids here all of a sudden jumping on a bulldozer, helping us out,” Daniluk said. “It was a very cool experience the whole summer, too. All we did was talk about football, how we were going to develop the kids, and what we wanted to do.”
The Walt Harper Training Facility includes a turf field, a football goalpost, a soccer net, and shaded training alleys. Gatewood football head coach Jeff Ratliff said some of his varsity players have already used it for pre-season training, too.
“They did a real nice job on it,” Ratliff said of Harper’s and Daniluk’s contributions. “It’s a nice addition for our elementary teams and PE classes.”