DANIEL DOHERTY | SUMMER KENT STATER The Kent State sign behind Sections 10 and 11 was vandalized last night with the words A-K ROWDY!! and SUCKS following the Kent State logo. The estimated damage to the area is between $10,000 and $15,000, said Laing Ken

Credit: DKS Editors

A vandalized Kent State sign at Dix Stadium will cost the university $7,000 to replace, said Laing Kennedy, director of athletics.

The sign, located on the back side of the student section bleachers between Sections 10 and 11, was damaged last week. The phrase “A-K ROWDY!!” was written in white spray paint on the sign, and “SUCKS” was written following the Kent State logo.

The wall the sign is posted on was also spray-painted with the

phrases “Missing: Wagon Wheel” and “5,000,000 Reward,” and construction barricades were also vandalized with the spray paint.

While crews managed to clean the words off the wall, Kennedy said the sign was too badly vandalized to fix and thus had to be replaced. He said panels on the wall may also have to be replaced, which would add to the total cost.

“We do not have time nor money to replace damage by inconsiderate, deplorable students or whoever did it,” Kennedy said. “It’s disappointing.”

The vandalism points to a vandal or vandals from the University of Akron, Kent State’s geographic and athletic rival.

Akron’s student fan group is called the AK-ROWDIES, and the football teams from Kent State and Akron play each year for the Wagon Wheel trophy, which Akron won last season.

While the evidence makes it seem as though the perpetrators came from Akron, Lt. Carl Sweigert of the Kent State Police said that isn’t necessarily the case. The police are looking into the crime.

“Anybody could have put anybody’s ‘I done it’ on it,” Sweigert said, “but that doesn’t necessarily mean they did it.”

The Kent State Police are investigating the crime, but Sweigert said the department doesn’t have much to go on. He asked anybody with information about the vandalism to contact the Kent State Police at (330) 672-3070.

Kennedy said the sign would be replaced within the next few days. In the meantime, he warned Kent State fans not to retaliate against Akron.

“Kent State is a first-class institution, and the last thing we want to be part of is any kind of retaliation,” Kennedy said. “The rivalry between the University of Akron and Kent State University is a great rivalry, and those issues are settled on the field and the court, not by resorting to some immature spray-painting.”

Crews are nearing completion on the $4 million second phase of renovations at Dix Stadium, and the football team’s home opener is Sept. 13 against Delaware State.

While Kennedy said the timing of the vandalism “could not be worse,” he added it does not take away from the football team’s or athletic department’s good feelings about the renovations.

“The excitement of the renovations (and) the excitement of the coming season far, far outweigh the detraction of some idiotic individuals,” he said. “That will not detract from the overall feeling of the team or the overall feeling of the renovations. In fact, in a strange sort of way, it will probably enhance it.”

Contact managing editor Doug Gulasy at [email protected].