ACCESSING THE ARCHIVES
In this retrospective , we take a look back at historic issues of SportsTurf magazine , predecessor to SportsField Management magazine . This edition of Accessing the Archives examines 1995 , a year in which field safety was a recurring theme .
The January 1995 issue highlighted Broward County School District ’ s Ed Birch , who earned the SportsTurf Man of the Year Award that year for his track record of creating safe playing surfaces . Under his leadership , the district ’ s 80 fields went more than a decade without recording a single injury to the athletes . Birch , who helped found the first Florida STMA chapter gave credit for the safety record to the efforts of his crew .
In February , the magazine focused on preparing infields , basepaths , pitcher ’ s mounds and batter ’ s boxes , and also shared mowing tips , including cutting heights , frequency and mowing patterns . The
February issue also featured an article by Ken Mrock of the Chicago Bears on handling the challenges of sports field management in the Chicago climate , including seeding , fertilization and dealing with cold weather .
March 1995 focused on aeration strategies to reduce compaction , field covers and hybrid bermudagrass , among other topics .
Safety audits were detailed in the April issue , with an emphasis on being “ prudent , reasonable and consistent .” “ If groundskeepers are prudent and reasonable in their maintenance … if they do the best they can with what they ’ ve got , and they do it in a consistent manner , then they may be free of liability ,” the article stated . The April issue shared results of a 1995 NFL player survey that revealed that 85 percent of NFL players preferred to play on natural grass . Seventy percent of the players also indicated that playing on a natural grass surface was either very important or somewhat important in selecting the teams they would consider signing with as free agents . At the time , 93 percent of players felt that artificial turf was more likely than grass to contribute to injury , 91 percent believed artificial turf was more likely to shorten their careers , and 90 percent believed artificial turf was more likely to worsen their quality of life after football .
36 SportsField Management | October 2024 sportsfieldmanagementonline . com