GENERALS: Team, FMS ink naming-rights deal

This weekend, the Waynesboro Generals announced that Fishburne Military School had partnered with the team and purchased naming rights to the Generals’ home field in a move that the staff believes is a first for the Valley Baseball League.

The official name for the Generals’ turf will be Fishburne Military School Park at Kate Collins Field.

“The snack bar is going to be the Generals’ Canteen. The store is going to be the Exchange … everything is going to be military oriented,” said Generals’ co-owner Jerry Carter. “It is very fitting.”

Since purchasing the team with John Leonard, Carter has wanted to sell the naming rights at Kate Collins but wanted a partner that was involved with the community as much as he hopes his team will be.

“The exciting thing about Fishburne is, from the very first meeting, the energy in the room,” he said. “We want people who want to be involved with us as much as we are involved with them.”

The team’s Vice President/Director of Sales Crystal Graham said that as soon as Fishburne was contacted, they were excited about the possibility of a partnership.

“The moment I contacted [Fishburne Director of Communications] Chris Richmond about it he was on board,” she said.

Carter said that the addition of Fishburne has the Generals almost where they need to be a week before the season begins.

“Crystal Graham … she has made it so we are heading in the right direction,” he said. “The Fishburne thing was the most important thing we were after and, again, it’s a partnership. We aren’t where we want to be yet, but we are within a cab ride now.”

Fishburne Superintendent Col. Rick Zinser said that the school wanted to use the partnership to help promote its role in the community. 

“We just want to be involved in the community,” Zinser said. “We are committed to athletics, and athletics for kids is a key part of what we do, so it was a natural fit. We have been here for over 100 years … I’d like to help some of the local kids through our day program. We’ve had a day program for 130 years, but we only had 13 day students last year.”

Liam McNamare, a 2009 Fishburne graduate and Fishersville native, said that the school has made several steps in recent years to show off its programs to the community.

“It’s big for the school and the area,” he said. “As a day student, to me it was mysterious and it’s kind of imposing, but what they are doing has given it a more appealing look”

On Wednesday, the Generals will get an early start at Fishburne Military Park at Kate Collins Field when they host the Rockingham County Baseball League’s Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks. On Friday the Generals will open the VBL’s regular season at home against the first-year Rockbridge Rapids. Both games begin at 7 p.m.