MASON — Standing underneath the reconstructed roof of the Puncher Dome, Mason ISD superintendent Sean Leamon could see the finish line.
“It’s been a long process,” Leamon said. “It’s going to be worth it.”
The stadium sat wounded without its iconic roof that was torn down after a 2024 storm left it with permanent damage.
Now, with the Texas high school football opening night just days away, Leamon is preparing to welcome fans back to a new version of the stadium that generations of Punchers called home.
“I can’t wait for August 28th to get here, but I’d like for it to wait just a little bit, because we’ve got a few things to finish up,” Leamon said. “The community, I think, is going to be really proud of it.”
‘Something no other stadium in Texas has’
The town of Mason is tucked away along the border of where many people believe West Texas and the Hill Country intersect. The town of a little more than 2,000 people is almost an equidistant 100-mile-plus drive to San Antonio, Austin and San Angelo — creating its own miniature Texas Triangle.
The country of Mason is known amongst Texans as the “Gem of the Texas Hill Country,” because it is the sole local source of the blue topaz, which is the state’s gemstone. It is also home to famed author Fred Gipson, who wrote the classic novel “Old Yeller” and where Walt Disney premiered the film adaptation at the Odeon Theatre in 1928.
Along with its rich contribution to American and Texas histories, Mason is home to one of the most iconic high school football stadiums in the state, the Puncher Dome.
The Puncher Dome was originally built in 1938 on the Fort Mason City Park fairgrounds as a horse racetrack, and was occasionally used as a rodeo arena or car racetrack.
The Mason High School football team began playing games at the stadium in 1939. The stadium got its first official name when the school board decided to name it after longtime mayor and Mason ISD superintendent R. Clinton Schulze in 1987.
Before the stadium gained its nickname, it was referred to as simply “the football field by the fairgrounds.” The origins of the Puncher Dome nickname are highly contested, but the earliest written record of its now iconic name was in a 2002 edition of the Standard-Times in which sports editor Bret Bloomquist ranked the area’s most iconic stadiums — he listed the Puncher Dome as the best stadium.
While some of the Puncher Dome’s legacy stems from its origins, it is now renowned for its unique appearance and old-timey quirks.
Because it was originally built as a horse racing venue, its tin roof over the wooden bleachers kept spectators out of the Texas sun as much as possible. During games, the metal roof and wooden bleachers turned into a megaphone for the Punchers band and passionate fanbase.
“Everybody’s so packed tight and excited, the whole crowd is going crazy,” Mason senior Slade Buell said. “The band is in the dome so it makes everything louder. It’s just a whole different experience. It’s something no other stadium in Texas has.”
The old horse bays at the front of the stadium were sectioned into premium seating for fans. There are no seats, so fans must bring their own chairs to place inside the metal railings. Those seats became so popular they are now raffled off at the start of every season.
For a while, the competing teams convened in livestock stables on either side of the field during halftime before the field house was constructed. A concession stand and restrooms were built in the following years, and eventually a golf course and new rodeo arena surrounded the old stadium.
The press box experience was also unlike any other stadium in Texas. It stood on top on the roof and loomed over the stadium giving anyone inside an overhead view of the field. Getting up to the press box required navigating to the top of the bleachers where there was less than 10-feet of clearance, climbing up a wooden ladder and opening a hatch to the roof where one could walk along the roof to the press box.
Past its noteworthy appearance and nickname, the Puncher Dome became a place where the town gathered on Friday nights for nearly 100 years, becoming the community’s new Gem of the Texas Hill Country.
The new Puncher Dome
Leamon was three days into the job when the 2024 storm wrecked irreversible damage to the Puncher Dome. The new admin coming from Winters was tasked with guiding Mason into something it had never thought of — building a new football stadium.
Before Leamon could start construction, they had to take the old roof off after it was deemed unsafe. For two football seasons, the old bleachers of the Puncher Dome saw their first sunshine in nearly 100 years. And, as part of the damage, those in attendance could only fill roughly 75% of the seats. The team also bought deer blinds and perched them behind the bleachers to replace the press box. A far different sight from the majesty and looming presence of the old stadium.
Like with any large construction project, Leamon said there were plenty of setbacks delaying the construction process.
“What people don’t understand is you’ve got your bid process, and you’ve got to get everybody set up and lined out. Then tearing down everything. It just takes time,” Leamon said. “They dug out about 8 feet and took out all the old dirt and everything (under the foundation). Then they had to go in every 8 inches and do compaction tests and build it back up. Plus, the good Lord blessed it with rain, so that added more delays.”
Another part of the process was the stadium’s design.
“I was really worried about (the design),” Leamon said. “I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, are people gonna be upset?’ I’m the new guy in here and I’m having to do this.”
After consulting with the community and an engineering firm, they came up with a new design in the same style as the original while making a few upgrades. Mason ISD contracted local company Fletco Construction to lead the construction of the new stadium in late 2025. After the football season ended, they began working on the new Puncher Dome.
“It’s not wooden like the old one, but it’s pretty darn close to the original, the way it’s set up and designed,” Leamon said.
The stadium is made entirely of steel and is noticeably larger than the original with new safety features compliant to construction codes.
The biggest change came with the construction of the new press box. While it is in the same spot on top of the stadium, it has proper clearance from the roof and a staircase leading around the back to the roof. The inside of the new press box also had considerable improvements with a new state-of-art PA system, air conditioning and multiple rooms for coaches, press and announcers.
For fans, there is more seating to accommodate the growing community, safety railing along the bleacher stairs, paths to the restrooms and concession stands. Eventually, Leamon said the plan is to add fans on the ceiling of the home side bleachers.
“I’m so glad that the community and everybody here decided to keep the same style,” Leamon said. “The engineering firm took great care in really analyzing the old structure and creating it. I think they’ve done an amazing job with it.”
While most of the stadium is new, the front section of the stadium where the old horse bays remain untouched as they were not affected by the damage. Those sections were raffled to fans ahead of the football season, like every season the nearly 100 years prior.
While long-time members of the community will get to experience the Puncher Dome again, many of the current Puncher’s football team will be experiencing their first varsity game playing in the legendary stadium.
“A lot of people’s dads have played there, my dad played there — you can feel the legacy,” senior Cass Dutton said.
As Fletco puts the finishing touches on the new Puncher Dome, Leamon said he is confident the Punchers will open the season with fans in the bleachers of the stadium against Reagan County on Friday, Aug. 28.
“The community loves their Punchers, and now they’re going to love their stadium even more,” Leamon said. “It’s going to be a stadium, I hope, that is going to be here for the next hundred years.”
Paul Witwer covers high school sports and Angelo State University sports for The San Angelo Standard-Times. Reach him at sports@gosanangelo.com. Follow him on X @Paul_Witwer, Instagram and TikTok at pwitwer_sast.
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Mason ISD brings back the legendary Puncher Dome
Reporting by Paul Witwer, San Angelo Standard-Times / San Angelo Standard-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Paul Witwer, San Angelo Standard-Times | USA TODAY Network
