Sowing, growing, mowmg Grass for Faurot Field

BYTERRY.JoRoAN

Growing gross is muddy business. Dr. David Minner, left, and Gene Sandner, BS Ag '83, survey grass growing in western Boone County, Sandner and Dorrell Seltsam, BS BA '36, MA '37, of S&S Seed Farms and Evergreen Sod provided 1M acreage to grow Faurot Field's sod. RobH;lpi......

22 M I SSOUR I AL UMNUS Robinson hit the on ly home run that eve1 injuries from ari iticial turf nnd the simple traveled complelel y out of the s!adium," fac1 of a belier playiug surface with grass, G,.,, McMm, Mi,w"s fmrncc Minner says. everyone wants to come back." baseball coach, was frustrated by a That Wcollege football is Toma referred McA.rtor Lo Dr. David says. "One year, my friends and I built a conce rned, Oklahoma is ex peeled to unveil Minner, MU associate professor of baseball diamond in ou r neighborhood, and its all-grass field this fall. ho11i culturc and state turfgrass specialist. played on it and took care of it throug hou t Minner acknowledges thal th e Faurot "He's the guy I go to when I ha ve a the summer. Those experiences goi me Field project wi ll be a much more question 1can' t answer," Toma said. Thal int erested in the whole stud y of 1urf." complete rebuilding than the Simmons was in spring I 991. McArtor, BS Ed '63, His interest led to a bachelor's degree in Field renovation. First, the present M Ed '64, PhD '72, called Minner that plant science from !he University of OmniTurf surface - consistin g of 6 inches day, the two talked about the poor field Delaware, a master's in agronomy from or roc k drainage, 4 inches of popcorn condi1ions, and Minner agreed to help. th e Un ive rsity of Maryland, and a PhD in asphalt, a 2-in ch rubber mat and sa nd -filled Si nce the n, a number or int eresting events horti culture fro m Colorado Stale syntheti c cnrpct surface - must be have occuncd: Un iversity. Now, with the new s1x,r!s 1·c111ovcd. Additional excavat ion may be In a cooperati ve effort between projects, he's come full circle. req uired to lower the fi c!d , thus im proving ac;idemics and ath letics, wi th some "For years. of cou rse, everyone played th e view from seals close to iL Then, new cost-snving measures thrown in, Min11cr on grass before synthe1ic turrs came into drains will be installctl, top ped by, in directed a renova1ion of Simmons Fi eld bei ng in lhc I 960s," Minner says. "And for order, 4 inches of pen grnvcl; 8 inches of in fa ll 1992. The improvements a long time after that, we be li eved that root zone sand mixed with organic matter; included an all-new infield, a wall -to­ Astrolllrf and the like woukl solve all ou r 4 inches ofTurfGrids, reinforced sand, and wa ll irrigati on system, Astroturf aprons problems. In recent years, th ough, due to the Kentucky bl ucgrnss sod in high-traffic areas neur th e dugouts, an un derground heating system to speed growth o r grass for earl y-season games , and beuer drainage throughout th e entire field - all for $20,000. Turf out, grass in Shortl y thereafter, Minner was named Groundskecper of the Year by th e The task of laying th e new natural-grass turf on Faurot Fie ld will begin ns Amcricm1 Baseball Coaches soon as the 1994 footba ll season is over, Athletic Director Joe Castiglione Association, an honor which normall y s;1ys. goes to a c urrent , full-t ime "We play our lus t home ga me against Kansas on Nov. 19," he says. "J fully groundskeepcr, not a consultant or turf expect tha t by Thanksgiving, we' ll he oul th ere tak in g up the old OmniTurf." speciul isl. "But I can't think of anyone Some of the artificial n11-r muy be used on va ri ous rields al Mizzou - who deserves it more," McArtor says. Castiglione po int s o ut that dugoul aprons o n Si mmons Field are made of Ath letic Director Joe Castiglione and As troturf - wh ile other pieces wil l he sold. I-l e dismisses a rumor th at th e former Director Dan Devine announced OmniTurf wil l be re-instal led at another site as a foot ball practice fi eld. " It's last year that Minner would head up a 10 years old and too worn," he says. project to convert Faurot Field lo Excavation work and the install:ition of a new drain.ige system will contin­ natural grass for the 1995 footbull ue through the wi ni er. "Then we'll start 1,1 ying 1h e various sand-based subsur­ seuson. Dr. Roger Mitchell , dean of faces, and by April or Ma y we'll install the new sod.'' agriculture, food and natural resources, The grass will be tended through th e summer, and if tentative schedules calls the effort "a happy marriage of hold tru e, the Tigers will play the first game on the new surface against two important programs on campus." Bowling Green on Sept. 9, 1995. Castiglione estimates th e cost of the project at between $600,000 a nd $700,000; about half o l" that will go for exc avation. No special fllnd dri ve will be set up. "We'l l pay for ii out of fu nd s from ou r capit al campaign. which Cas li glioae, Deviae aod McAno,· we're conducting now," he ,idds. say they couldn 't have picked a better field Castigl ione notes that Don Faurot, former coach, athletic director and th e architect than Minner, who grew up person for whom the ri cld is named, is 9 1 and still :ictive. listening to the Baltimore Orioles on the "Coach Faurot helped lay the origin:.il grass turf on the field in 1926," radio fro m his home in Seaford, Del. , and Castiglione says. "We hope to see him out there helping us lay the new grass lettered in three sports in high school. "I'm next year." proud to say th at I was at Memorial Stadium in B:iltimore the day that Prank

FALL1994 M I S S O /J H I A /., U M N US 23 -W: sand? .. Because you need 10 Cross sections of Faurot Field keep the field a~ dry as possible during games or the sod will easily rip," Minner - Customized Kentucky bluegrass says. ··specially gmdcd sands. being more porous than clay. give you good. fast - .4 inches of sand reinforced drainage. I like my fi elds to move between withtvrfgrids 5 and 10 inches of internal water an hour." The main problem with the o ld grass 8 inches of sand root zone surface at Faurot Field. he adds, was the 24 mixed with organic molter inches of clay underneath. "That wouldn't allow drainage at all. so turf diseases took over on the wet field and the weak surface couldn't take the traffic. It was a hopeless situation that wouldn't improve without reconstructio n." - .4 inches of pea grovel To those who don' t believe grass can grow in Memorial Stadium. Minner says not 10 worry. "The key ism put in proper subsurface drainage with a special sand­ - Graded subsoil based root zone. What we' ll do at Faurot with plastic drain tile line Field is similar 10 what lhcy've done at the other successful new grass parks. such as Camden Yards in Baltimore, Comiskey Park in Chicago and the new Jacobs Field in Cleveland. where the Indians will play. ··Indeed. grass will grow on Faurot - OmniT urf carpet, ¼- inch sand Field. r II stake my reputation on i1 .'· on a 2-inch rubber mot - .4 inches of popcorn asphalt

T,grass ;, g,ow;ng n; ce\y on 1hc infield at Simmons. where in 1992 new Head Coach Tim Jamieson led the baseball team in replacing the o ld sod, soil and gravel with new materials. A donation from the Tiger Bullpen C lub helped make it possible. - Graded subsoil with drain line While volunteers will not be used to the same extent on the Faurot Field project, donations and donated materials are just as welcome. Gene Sandner, BS Ag '83. and Darrell Sellsam. BS BA '36, MA ·37, owners o f S&S Seed Fanns and Evergreen Sod of Rochepon. Mo .. provided the sod for Si mmons Field and are offering their - 2.4 inches of topsoil and cloy land for growing Faurot Field 0 s turf. ··we'll need the equi valem of about 2 ½ acres of sod for Faurot. and we've got almost 20 acres growing out at Evergreen ... Minner says. ··We'll be fi ne." This is the largest projccl yet for Minner. who helped on projects for the Los - Groded subsoil, rock Angeles Raiders and the C leveland with droin line Browns. ·-rm looking forward to working with Larry Smith as well ," he says. 'The Tigers are bouncing back, and we're going to help them. We'll give them a field they ... The pa st (1926-1984) can be proud of.'" Iii

M M1 ssou n1At UMNUS FALL 1 994