Knox College dedicated the newly renovated Jorge Prats Field on September 29 with a presentation and ribbon-cutting before a soccer doubleheader.

Director of Athletics Daniella Irle, Knox College President Teresa Amott, and Jorge Prats all gave short remarks and were joined by Prairie Fire soccer head coaches Brian O’Connor and Chris Haught-Thompson, along with representatives from the contractors.

The field has been called Jorge Prats Field since 2007, dedicated in honor of Prats' efforts as a coach and advocate of soccer on campus for many years. He started a men's soccer club in the mid-1960s and became the first head coach when men's soccer became a varsity sport in 1970. He was also instrumental in starting the women's soccer club in the 1980s and pushing women's soccer to varsity status.

“If this field could talk, it would tell you about a young professor of Spanish that came to Knox in 1962, fiercely proud of his native land of Catalonia,” Amott said, referring to Prats. “He brought to Knox two brilliant ideas. First, to take Knox and other American college students to Spain to study at the University of Barcelona. But even more brilliant, to bring soccer, the beautiful game, to Knox.”

Improvements to the field include the Field Turf Revolution 360 mono-filament synthetic surface, branding, and fencing for security and aesthetics. The monofilament fiber is revolutionary in the field turf business with the first perfect score in fiber quality, meaning no splitting or fracturing of fiber. Revolution 360 has become the trusted surface of premier facilities such as CenturyLink Field, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and Providence Park. This is the first step toward Phase 2 renovations at Prats Field that will add lighting, a new scoreboard, a scorer's table, and landscaping.

“We have a created a venue here that gives new meaning to the term 'our house,'” said Irle. “When people come here, they are going to know where they are at and that this is Knox College. We have created an environment for us to step onto the national stage and stay there. I feel proud and confident that these programs are poised to take the next step and in large part, it is going to be due to this facility.”

“Thank you very much to everybody involved to make this possible. I think this has been a great day, I am a happy person,” concluded Prats. “Fortunately, now we have this beautiful field that you can all see, with two beautiful teams who are doing excellent, with coaches who know what we have to do to be winners.”

The men’s soccer team has participated in five consecutive Midwest Conference Tournaments and has won the regular season championship twice during that time. The women’s soccer team has won back-to-back Midwest Conference Tournaments and participated in the NCAA Tournament the last two years.