Get set for one big bash tonight at Gyro (a.k.a., John Warren) Field.

Not only are the Astoria Fishermen hosting their season opener against the defending state champions, a halftime ceremony will honor the 80th anniversary of the facility, which took shape as Gyro Field in 1927.

The daughter of John Warren, Sue Miller, and her husband Dwane will be honored at halftime, and will receive gifts from the Astoria High School student council, said AHS Athletics Director Howard Rub.

“It’s a big deal,” said Rub, whose team will kick off the 2007 season at 7 p.m. “This is a great way to kick off our fundraising efforts.”

Future renovations are being planned for the old stadium, which has been used for athletic events since 1927.

The first sporting contest at the field was actually a baseball game on June 12, 1927.

Renamed “John Warren Field” in 1975, tonight’s football game will be a celebration for the facility – one of the only high school stadiums in the state to be featured on the silver screen (“The Goonies,” 1985).

It’s also where the Fishermen will open play to start the new season. Astoria will go through five weeks of nonleague games before opening league play Oct. 5.

And tonight’s opponent should give the Fishermen a good idea of where they’re at, as they host the Siuslaw Vikings, last year’s state champion.

It will all be part of “OSAA Endowment” day in Astoria, as the volleyball team will host a three-team minitournament with Estacada and Siuslaw starting at noon.

History of Gyro FieldThe Gyro Club of Astoria (the first Gyro Club was formed in Cleveland in 1912) announced plans for a new field on March 1, 1927.

Local architect J.H. Beaver drew up a design for the proposed facility, and it was put on display in the downtown window of Lawson’s Confectionery for Astoria citizens to approve.

On May 5, contractors Ostrom and Mart were hired to clean, drain, grade and level the western end of Scow Bay. Construction of a fence and bleachers was also included.

And – following a parade through town on Sunday, June 12, 1927 – the first event was held at Gyro Field, a baseball game between the Astoria Elks and the visiting Simmons All-Stars of Portland.

Astoria leadoff batter Lawrence Jackson and center fielder Eppie Pentilla both went 3-for-4, and Charlie Mattila added a double to help the Astorians to a 5-1 win.

On Oct. 3, 1928, the Gyro Club offered the field to the Astoria School Board, and on Dec. 6 of that year, the field was given to the schools.

In April 1929, 1,000 yards of dirt and 150 yards of sand were used to raise the playing surface off the floor of Scow Bay.

A story by Adam McAloney in the Spring 2007 issue of Cumtux, the magazine for the Clatsop County Historical Society, states: “In July 1934, a permanent lighting system for Gyro Field was bought and paid for by the Gyro Club. In the 1960s, the students at Astoria High School donated $7,000 to the Astoria School District for new Gyro Field lockerrooms.”

Prior to the 1970 football season, the grandstands, “suffering massive termite and dry rot damage,” were replaced with temporary bleachers.

“A new grandstand was purchased by a businessman from Eugene,” John Warren, the former Astoria football coach.

Now in Astoria High School’s Hall of Fame, Warren attended an Astoria football game in 1975, when it was announced that the field was to be renamed John Warren Field.

As football coach at Astoria from 1928 to 1934, Warren’s teams won 44 games, with 13 losses and five ties. His record as the boys basketball coach at AHS was 192-35, with three state championships.