Carl Sandburg Breaks Ground Thursday on a 70,000-Square-Foot Athletic Center — and Area Schools Will Play in It
There is a community college in Galesburg with ten varsity athletic teams, and if you follow local sports you could be forgiven for not knowing much about any of them.
That is about to get harder to ignore. Carl Sandburg College breaks ground on the Charger Center at 4 p.m. Thursday, on the southeast side of the Galesburg campus next to Building G, and the building it is putting up will change where a lot of area sport gets played.
What is being built
70,204 square feet. Inside it:
- Two competition gymnasiums with wood floors
- A multipurpose gym
- Fitness and athletic training areas
- A golf simulator room
- An esports arena
- Turf fields for baseball, softball and soccer
Legat Architects designed it. The college anticipates opening in late 2027.
Why it matters beyond Sandburg
The college has been explicit that the Charger Center is intended to host area youth and high school tournaments.
Read that in the context of a region where gym space is the constraint on almost everything. Two wood competition floors plus a multipurpose gym, twenty minutes from most of the schools we cover, changes what is possible for holiday tournaments, regional hosting, junior high events and club volleyball. Turf fields that drain do the same for spring baseball and softball in an Illinois March.
This is a facility story with consequences for Knoxville, ROWVA, United and Abingdon-Avon, not only for Sandburg.
The athletic department nobody writes about
Since we are here: the Chargers field ten varsity programs in NJCAA Division II, competing in the Arrowhead Conference alongside Black Hawk, Highland, Illinois Valley, Kishwaukee and Sauk Valley.
| Men’s | Women’s |
|---|---|
| Baseball | Basketball |
| Basketball | Cross country |
| Cross country | Golf |
| Golf | Softball |
| Soccer | Volleyball |
There is an esports program too, coached by Russ Ullrich — which explains the arena in the plans.
Recent form
Men’s basketball finished second in the Arrowhead last season under Ryan Twaddle, who has coached the program since 2007. The title came down to the final night: Sandburg lost 68-66 at Olive-Harvey on a last-second basket, and Illinois Valley took the conference. Koen Derry made first-team All-Arrowhead; Jeremiah Babers and David Hise made second team.
Women’s basketball under Kellen Fernetti won four straight in January and opened 3-0 in conference play. The program shared the Arrowhead title in 2023-24 at 23-10.
Volleyball, coached by Todd Winkler, reached the NJCAA Division II national championship field as a No. 19 seed in 2024.
Men’s golf had Tyler Picken take medalist honours at the Region 4 preview at PrairieView.
Daniella Irle is the athletic director.
One more number
Ninety-seven Sandburg athletes earned Academic All-Arrowhead honours for 2025-26.
For a two-year college whose athletes are mostly passing through on their way somewhere else, that is the statistic the coaches will tell you they care about most.
We are starting to cover this
Sandburg is in Galesburg. Ten teams, a conference, a national tournament appearance two years ago, and a building going up that area high schools will end up playing in.
Thursday, 4 p.m., southeast side of campus. We will be following the Chargers from here.
If you coach, play for, or follow Sandburg athletics and want your schedule and results published, get in touch.
Facility details from Carl Sandburg College. Athletics information from the Sandburg athletics department. This is our first Sandburg story — tell us what we got wrong and we will fix it same day.
