The football field at Tippecanoe Valley High School was officially named on Sept. 22 in honor of former coaches Charlie Smith and Scott Bibler.

Shortly before the homecoming football game against Manchester, members of the Smith and Bibler families, current and past players, coaches, and staff officially unveiled a dedication sign that read “Smith-Bibler Memorial Field – Home of Death Valley Football”.

Smith was hired in 1974 to be the football coach, a time when the school had no football program. The following year, the first varsity team began playing, and in the years that followed, an unstoppable record began to take shape. The team went undefeated at home from 1975 to 1980 and even won a state title in 1979. It was because of this unstoppable success that many people began referring to the program as Death Valley. In those days, Valley was the team many feared playing because they knew their season would come to an end. Making the playoffs without a perfect record or more than one loss was rare back in those days.

Smith coached up until 1982. Bibler started in 1990 and stayed until 2014. Their lives were tragically cut short on October 2nd, 2015. Bibler, Charlie Smith and his son Scott, and Tony Elliott passed away on their way to Clemson to watch Notre Dame play football.

The sign will be mounted on the east end of the football field atop the visitors’ bleachers where the old press box once stood.