BY Joe Malinconico

July 27, 2021

 

PATERSON — City officials are installing artificial turf at Putnam Oval field, where the Eastside High School girls softball teams play their home games, as part of a $1 million improvement project scheduled to start next week.

In conjunction with the work, the city is renaming the facility on Lafayette Street in the 4th Ward to honor Ray Lyde Sr., who coached youth sports in Paterson for decades starting in the 1960s.

Ray Lyde Sr. Field also will be getting new lights as part of the project. The city borrowed the money for the renovations.

Lyde Field will become the third Paterson field converted to artificial turf during the three years Andre Sayegh has been mayor, joining Buckley Field on Chamberlain Avenue and Brandes Field on Marshall Street. Also, Bauerle Field, where Eastside and Kennedy high schools play their home football games, is getting new artificial turf to replace the surface installed more than a decade ago.

Several dozen of Lyde’s family members, friends and former players attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the field to celebrate its being named after him. His wife, Jeanette, worked for years as an educator in the city school district, and his daughter, Jaylin, last month was named an acting assistant superintendent.

Besides the Eastside girls team, Lyde Field is used by adult men’s softball leagues and as a practice field for youth football teams. Officials said the new turf likely will be fully installed by the end of September. The turf will be blue and orange, Eastside’s school colors, in tribute to Lyde’s work there, officials said.

 

Original article can be found here.