‘WISER FIELD’: Clarion Will Name Renovated Football Field at School After Former Longtime Coach Larry Wiser

CLARION, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Larry Wiser had no idea what was about to happen.

Wiser was lured to the Clarion Area School Board meeting on Tuesday night by superintendent Joe Carrico. As the athletic director at North Clarion, the retired football coach thought the conversation with the board at the meeting would be about some sports-related administrative bureaucracy.

Instead, Wiser received the honor of a lifetime.

(Pictured above, former longtime Clarion Area football coach Larry Wiser talks with his team in this file photo from 2018)

During the meeting Wiser’s son, Ryan, stood and made an announcement.

The renovated football field nestled below Clarion High School would be named “Wiser Field” in honor of the former longtime Clarion Area grid coach.

Wiser’s wife, Annie, was there. Wiser said she had known about the honor for two weeks leading up to the meeting and was able to keep it a secret. Wiser’s daughter, Morgan Gates, along with her husband and four children, also were in attendance.

“They surprised the heck out of me,” Wiser said. “It was a complete shock. It’s hard to even put into words what it means to me personally. My eyes definitely teared up.”

Wiser was a staple of Clarion football for more than three decades over two stints as the head coach, first from 1988 to 2009 and then from 2011 to 2019. He was the Central Clarion coach in 2020 following the co-op with Clarion-Limestone and then retired after that season.

Wiser was 237-103-1 in his coaching career. Clarion won District 9 titles during his tenure in 1997, 2009, 2013 and 2017 (in Class 2A).

The naming ceremony will take place on Sept. 1 on the renovated field when Central Clarion hosts Port Allegany.

It will be the first game action on that field in 20 years.

Wiser remembers well those games on that patch of grass, down a steep slope and nestled among rows of trees behind the high school.

“It was such a beautiful place to play a game, especially in the fall,” Wiser said.

And it will be again on Sept. 1 and beyond.

With Wiser’s name on it.

“I’m hoping that I get a chance to see some former players — I’ve been fortunate enough that a number of them are still living around here,” Wiser said. “Like I said, it’s just so hard to express what it means when you’re gonna have your name on it. But I also think about all the people that gave me an opportunity to be a coach and a head coach all those years and be with all those great, great kids.”