SportsTurf

December 2016

SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.

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16 SportsTurf | December 2016 www.sportsturfonline.com FACILITY & OPERATIONS added in Legacy, (a combination of Cutlass and Primo), a plant growth regulator (PGR) into his program. "Trying to incorporate that with a multitude of other ingredients to try to combat all of the stress of the plant from traffic, heat and wear tolerance. The PGR is tillering the plant out more laterally than upward so you're getting more of the leaf tissue. The plant seems to tiller out more where you're getting a stronger and more dense plant. It's had a tremendous value to us, having that incorporated." Now that Spillman has made it to the Majors, he hasn't forgotten the help he received along the way, especially from his mentor, Roger Bossard. "He took me under his wing and taught me what he knew from his father and grandfather, and made me the groundskeeper than I am today." Spillman mentors other sports turf managers, guys who've interned or worked for him, the way Roger Bossard brought him along. He revels in the success of the professionals he's helping to succeed in their careers "because you know you were there at one point looking for guidance. To give back means a lot." With the renovation of the more than a century old Wrigley Field underway, the history of the place, and his role in that history, is not lost on Spillman. "It's a pretty prestigious thing, too. There are only 30 of us in the whole country," Spillman says. "Sometimes I have to step back and realize where I'm at and how far I've come." Wrigley grounds crew singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch, a tradition at the landmark ballpark. Dragging infield dirt. Even with the renovation at Wrigley Field, some elements will not change. The outfield ivy wall, a fixture of the Chicago Cubs psyche, remains.

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