Madison Bulldogs go on the road in a decked-out ride

Posted on Friday, October 1, 2010

By CHUCK CLEMENT, Staff Reporter

A more comfortable ride on those long road trips, a higher public profile for the Madison school system, and perhaps some savings for the local Booster Club -- those are the advantages in purchasing a touring bus for the Madison Central School District.

This fall, students in the Madison public schools started their first year in riding the Bulldogs touring bus to events. The touring coach was driven to some events last spring, but that was before the vehicle was refurbished and repainted with the school's maroon and white colors.

The idea of purchasing the vehicle originated with members of the Madison High Booster Club. Darin Namken, Booster Club president in 2009, said the group had raised enough money by last fall to support a special project for the school district. One of the options was buying a used touring bus from Wayne Westerberg of Madison.

"We had this money and wanted to do something to help the athletes and the other programs," Namken said. "The Booster Club has done that sort of thing in the past. We supported outfitting a new fitness room at the high school several years ago."

Buying the bus also fit in with the support that the Booster Club had given the public high school in the past. On long road trips, such as games held at West River schools, the Booster Club had paid the difference in expenses for hiring a charter bus for the trip instead of having the high school athletes ride in a typical school bus.

The cost in chartering a bus to drive to western South Dakota could amount to more than $2,000.

"I believe we figured out that the Booster Club would pay about $800 on average for chartering a bus to a road game," Namken said.

Bud Postma, the high school activities director, spoke to the school board members in October 2009 about purchasing the used bus for $20,000 with the Booster Club and school district each providing $10,000.

After it was purchased, the Booster Club arranged for improvements to the vehicle, such as new tires, replacing some side panels that were rusted, and the new paint job.

According to Namken, Prostrollo's Auto Mall in Madison had purchased the paint for the bus and took care of the prep and paint work to give it the school colors. Namken said other volunteers such as school coaches donated their time at Prostrollo's getting the vehicle ready and helping out at the paint shop.

"The paint work took the crew two to three full days to do all of the bus," Namken said. "It also took up all of the body shop at the dealership."

The Booster Club also bought exterior decals that identified the touring bus as belonging to Madison, and Silver Creek Productions in Madison provided the know-how in placing the lettering on the vehicle.

This fall, the 44-passenger bus has gone on the road fully decked out as Madison's. Namken said the vehicle has "a really nice ride" and provides more storage room for athletic equipment and band instruments. He said the Spirit of Madison marching band rode the touring bus to out-of-town competitions last weekend.

"Not only does it offer a better ride than in a school bus, but it's also good advertising for Madison's schools," Namken said.

©Madison Daily Leader 2010