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.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/753045
www.stma.org December 2016 | SportsTurf 27 family made this no longer an issue. We also have many more options for herbicides and fertilizers. SOD ON PLASTIC The biggest innovation from a groundskeeping standpoint is the development of "sod on plastic." For the first time, we have a way to repair or build a field and play on it immediately. That would have saved me a lot of sleepless nights and an easier way to repair our field at Tennessee in September 1998 when the fans stormed the field and took chunks of turf for souvenirs after Tennessee defeated Florida in overtime. This is where I am going to sound like an old fuddy-duddy. I am afraid that we may have a tendency to rely too much on the new technology and products. Sometimes we are inclined to forget sound agronomic principles that have been around since before my career began. In fact, these principles have not changed since 1973, when Dr. James Beard published Turfgrass: Science And Culture, which is still the standard by which all other texts are judged. It remains the best-selling reference book in the field. Today there are so many toys to play with that we refuse to let the grass just grow. We are always picking at it. I challenge all of you to leave it alone, let it rest and grow for a while. The first Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA) Conference I ever attended was in Indianapolis in 1992, which was held in conjunction with the National Federation Conference of High School Athletic Directors. Dr. Gil Landry was president of STMA at that time. We were a small group then, but it seemed big time to me. That is where I first met Bucky Trotter, who has become a lifelong friend, and Dr. A.J. Powell, who was a mentor and friend until his death a few years ago. Dr. Powell had a way of making the most complicated things seem simple. We both were sitting in on a presentation by Chuck Dickson on sand and construction of sand fields, which were starting to become popular at the time because the professional teams and colleges were going back to grass. At the end of the presentation, he raised his hand and said, "That was certainly interesting Chuck, but I didn't understand a thing you said." George Toma also gave a presentation in a small classroom that was not full. All I knew about George at the time was what I had read in SportsTurf magazine, so I was in awe. I have had the opportunity to talk with George many times over the years and I believe that all of us in this profession owe him quite a lot. The next conference I attended was in Colorado Springs in 1997. We were on our own at the Red Lion Hotel and there were a few hundred attendees. Mike Schiller was President. Steve and Suz Trusty had taken over the management of the association. Many college and professional grounds keepers attended, and the education was greatly enhanced with speakers such as Dr. Powell and Dr. Coleman Ward of Auburn. Many consider this Conference as the birth of STMA as we know it now. Dr. Ward became a friend and mentor for the rest of my career. Talking with him or sitting in on one of his presentations was like sitting in his classroom. Unfortunately, Dr. Ward, as with many of our pioneers, died a few years ago. At the Colorado Springs Conference, I met my hero, Tom Burns. While I was moonlighting as groundskeeper for the Knoxville Blue Jays, and still teaching, there was an article in this magazine about Tom when he was at Port Charlotte, FL. That sounded like the greatest job in the world to me while I was in my classroom teaching math and accounting. It made me more determined to get out of the classroom and pursue my dream job. Tom and I remain friends to this day, and anytime I want advice about baseball fields or history of our profession he is the first person I call. If we want to be treated as professionals we must act like professionals and be proud of our profession.