Athens High School has changed the name of its football stadium to honor QB Joe Burrow

Joe Burrow’s high school stadium in Athens, Ohio is now officially named after him.

Last year, Athens High School declared their intention to name their high school football stadium after proud alumnus Joe Burrow.

This week, they followed through.

The new signage on Joe Burrow Stadium is complete and it looks pretty sweet.

Athens High School will now play football at Joe Burrow Stadium.

Not many living people can claim to have a stadium named after them, so the Bengals‘ new QB is in rare company.

It was after winning the Heisman Trophy that the quarterback highlighted the Athens area where he grew up and its high poverty rate. His speech sparked $400,000 worth of donations to the Athens County food bank, per ESPN.

In that way, honoring Burrow with the stadium’s name isn’t just about his outstanding play on the field. It’s about his dedication to helping the local community. All involved should be proud.

The amazing thing is how quickly Burrow’s legend came into being.

He was a star in high school, voted the Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior and senior. He landed a dream offer from Ohio State and signed with the Buckeyes, but a chance to play never materialized. He looked destined to follow in the footsteps of many a heralded high school quarterback who didn’t take off at the college level.

Then Burrow transferred to LSU and won the starting job in 2018. Even then, his debut season in Baton Rouge didn’t herald the things to come. He threw for 2,894 yards and 16 touchdowns with five interceptions. He was good, but not great.

Everything changed in 2019 as Burrow catapulted himself and the Tigers into the stratosphere of all-time college football greats. He rained 60 touchdowns down on opposing defenses during arguably the single most impressive season for a college quarterback ever.