RISING STAR

Hometown pride is real for Rising Star Award Winner Colt Boxler .

Boxler , who grew up in Akron , Ohio , attended nearby Ellet High School and graduated from the University of Akron , now maintains the baseball field at Canal Park , home of the Akron RubberDucks ( Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians ) — a field at which Boxler attended games as a child .

“ I went to the University of Akron for sports management and was looking into facility / stadium operations ,” said Boxler . “ I did an internship here with the RubberDucks doing facility operations . At the end of the internship , Head Groundskeeper Chris Walsh needed extra help , so I helped out for the final 10 games that season and really enjoyed it . Chris was impressed enough that he offered me a job on the game day crew the following year .”

Boxler worked as a game day crewmember for the next two seasons , and in 2019 was offered the position as assistant groundskeeper .

“ Before that , I had never really even considered turfgrass or working on a sports field ,” said Boxler . “ I was hired in February of 2020 as the full-time assistant . Then , two weeks in , we were in this unprecedented time with no idea what was going to happen .

“ Once the pandemic hit , we were told we couldn ’ t be at the stadium , and we had to try to figure out a way to work from home ,” Boxler added . “ Chris was great in guiding me on using that time to educate myself as best I could . He was looking up articles , lectures and videos , so I could read them or watch them , and use that time at home . SFMA opened up free access to their resources , so I utilized that April through June . When things opened back up , I was able to start applying all that stuff I had read about and learned .” sportsfieldmanagementonline . com October 2024 | SportsField Management

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