ACCESSING THE ARCHIVES

Associate publisher Bruce Shank wrote , “ Until this first issue , the only publications covering the problems and technology of sports turf were either coaches magazines , general landscape or grounds care publications , or magazines that really focus on food service , general services , or janitorial maintenance . These magazines devote very little space to the needs of the playing surface and the people responsible for it .”

The lead news item of the inaugural issue was analysis of a Sports Illustrated report about artificial turf , along with a rebuttal article from Monsanto , inventor of AstroTurf . The debut issue of sportsTURF also included profiles of the maintenance practices as Cashman Field ( home of the Las Vegas Stars Minor League Baseball team ), and the athletic fields at Towson State University in Maryland . There was also an article on “ Designing an Irrigation System for Sports Turf ” and another about a football field improvement program at 37 high school football fields in north Texas .

In this retrospective , we will examine historic issues of SportsTurf magazine , predecessor to SportsField Management magazine . In this issue , we start at the very beginning of the publication .

SportsTurf magazine ( then stylized as sportsTURF ) published its first edition with the September / October 1985 issue . At that time , sportsTURF was not yet the official publication of the Sports Turf Managers Association ( that didn ’ t happen until 1988 ).

The cover of the first issue featured Dodger Stadium without a headline other than “ Premier Issue !” and an inside cover caption of “ Dodger Stadium at night shows a strong combination of quality natural turf , a stadium designed for baseball , and a scenic location .”

Then-publisher Denne Goldstein billed sportsTURF as “ a special magazine for a special market .” He stated that the publication was directed at “ recreation and sports stadium managers , golf course superintendents , greenskeepers and groundskeepers at colleges , parks and universities .”

46 SportsField Management | August 2023 sportsfieldmanagementonline . com