All profile articles written by John Kmitta
Welcome to our coverage of the SportsField Management magazine Rising Star Awards, sponsored by STEC Equipment. The pages that follow showcase the 2025 Rising Star winners.
The awards highlight the best up-and-coming leaders in the sports field management industry. Nominees were submitted earlier this year from throughout the sports field management industry.*
Rising Star nominees had to be under the age of 40 as of January 1, 2025; or, if over the age of 40, must have been new to the sports field management industry within the last 10 years.
Candidates were evaluated based on professional accomplishments, leadership, community and industry involvement, philanthropic efforts and other exemplary qualities.
The Rising Star Awards review panel included SportsField Management magazine staff, as well as a panel of SFMA members from various areas of the industry. Rising Star Award winners were nominated by their peers and selected a winners by their peers.
The 2025 Rising Star Award winners are (in alphabetical order by last name):
C.J. Buck
Justin Danelutt
Marcus Elswick
Mira Emma
Gage Knudson
*The SportsField Management magazine Rising Star Awards, sponsored by STEC Equipment, are an independent award production created and presented by SportsField Management magazine. Although SFMA members were involved in the nominee review process, the awards program is not an official SFMA award. As such, nominees do not need to be members of the national SFMA to be considered for a Rising Star Award.
Soccer has always been a part of life for SportsField Management Rising Star Award Winner C.J. Buck.
“I started playing soccer when I was four or five and never looked back,” he said. “I wasn’t good enough to go anywhere with it after high school; but I always enjoyed playing, and it stuck with me. Soccer is always on the television — whether it’s live games, or replays, or me playing FIFA or whatever — it’s always around. I just can’t get enough of it. I’m addicted to it.”
Despite his passion for soccer, however, Buck did not set out with a sports field management career in mind. Originally from Suffolk, Virginia, in the southeast part of the state, Buck did not grow up on a farm, but was always surrounded by agriculture. That led to an interest in animal science and an opportunity to work with pigs at the Virginia Tech Agriculture Research and Extension Center while still in high school.
Buck’s goal of being a veterinarian changed with a tour of Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium led by Nick McKenna, CSFM. He went on to take turfgrass classes led by Dr. Erik Ervin, and from then on knew he wanted to be in the turfgrass industry.
“Virginia Tech was really the only program in the state that interested me,” he said. “Once I got there, Dr. Ervin had me working in the turf research labs with Dr. Zhang doing stress trials on bentgrass, cutting grass with scissors, and growth chambers.”
From there, Buck worked with Chad Kropff on the Virginia Tech rec fields as Kropff’s assistant for 18 months.
“That was kind of a stay-at-home internship, and then I swapped over to the D-1 facilities where I worked for Andy McReynolds,” said Buck. “He meant a lot to my journey.
“I got a taste of a little bit of everything at Virginia Tech — the research, the rec fields and D-1,” Buck added. “I really enjoyed my four years there. It’s a second home to me, and I’ve always enjoyed going back.”
While still at Virginia Tech, Buck interned with the Salem Red Sox. Then, following graduation, he went to Louisville to work for Tom Nielsen before returning to work with the staff at Virginia Tech.
Prior to the 2017 STMA Conference, Buck emailed every Major League Soccer (MLS) groundskeeper east of Kansas City to introduce himself and express his interest in soccer.
“I was 98% certain I was going to be in MLS for the greater part of my career,” said Buck. “Half of them didn’t e-mail me back, a bunch did that didn’t have anything open.”
However, two people emailed Buck back to express interest in meeting him. The first was Dan Bergstrom, CSFM, of the Houston Dynamo who had a position open for an assistant. The other was John Torres of the Philadelphia Union, who didn’t have any openings but still wanted to talk. Buck met with both during the conference and took the job with Bergstrom for the remainder of 2017. Then, in the fall of 2017, Torres reached out regarding an open position as his assistant, which led Buck to Philadelphia.
“My girlfriend at the time, now wife, got into grad school back east, so it made sense to go to Philly,” said Buck. “I spent exactly six years there, and grew from John’s first assistant to head sports turf manager. I was still under John, because he’s still there, but his role grew as the Union grew and expanded its footprint. I took over the day-to-day operations and became head sports turf manager while John became director of grounds.”
Buck spent the next three years leading the crew as the primary person in charge of the playing surfaces for the stadium and practice fields, including handling all purchasing and hiring decisions.
“Managing non-overseeded bermudagrass in Philadelphia with no sub heat is something I’m super proud of,” he said. “I have every picture from every day throughout the year to show the good, the bad and the ugly. The team loved the surface and how well it played. That makes me happy.”
Buck added that he treats everyone he works with as he would want to be treated. “I wanted to build them up to have the confidence to do something their own way, figure out better ways to do things and then trust them to go do the job.”
But midway through 2023, seeking more work-life balance, Buck began entertaining thoughts of other career opportunities. He mentioned this to some of his sales reps, and Eric Shilling of Harrell’s suggested to Buck a career shift to sales. At the time, Harrell’s didn’t have any sales reps in the region with a sports turf background.
“They liked the sports turf background because it was different than everybody else on the crew in in our region. I left the Union on December 31, 2023, and I’ve been with Harrell’s for 18 months. I’m really enjoying it.”
The initial transition from being a practitioner to being in sales was challenging for Buck because he had enjoyed growing grass for more than a decade. But now he embraces his role helping others.
“You’re going from one locked-in scenario to five to eight different scenarios a day multiplied by five days a week,” he said. “You just give them the best information you can and you know it’s all in their hands at that point. You are there to be a voice and a sounding board.”
Buck's sales territory stretches from Central Park to Washington, D.C., and west to central Pennsylvania; and his clients include sports field and golf course managers, as well as a growing portfolio of lawn care companies.
“It’s about trying to stay ahead of the curve and looking for opportunities as well,” he said. “If you’re driving down the road and you see a lawn care business, you pull in, introduce yourself, and hand out your business cards like candy. Get your name out there, get the company’s name out there, and be a source of solutions for folks.”
One of the biggest challenges Buck has faced in his career is that he is colorblind.
“A lot of our day-to-day depends on assessing the health of turfgrass — drought stress, mower injury, disease, etc. And there are a lot of indicators that present early as different colors. It’s frustrating because I physically can’t see it,” he said. “I’m the first one to say that I am terrible at spotting drought stress because I just can’t see the turf turning. A lot of it is leaning on the crew, having people around me, and explaining what they need to look for and how we can best prepare for things like that.”
As a sports field manager, Buck enjoyed the peacefulness of quiet days — especially during the summer months when he would arrive early on a Saturday morning to mow with no one else around.
“And I’m a big soccer fan, so every aspect of being in and around soccer every day — that’s what I live and breathe,” he said. “Just being around the game was a high point for me.”
Buck’s favorite part of his new role is sharing advice that worked for him.
“Every situation is different, so you don’t know if it will translate 100% to what they’re doing,” he said. “But whenever you give good advice and you get pictures back or clients reach out to say that your recommendations worked is what makes it all worth it.”
In addition to helping his clients, Buck enjoys helping others in the industry through service to the Keystone Athletic Field Managers Organization (KAFMO) and national SFMA (Buck currently serves on the SFMA Editorial Committee).
“I want to be useful to the industry that’s given me a whole career,” said Buck. “It means something to be able to help out, be with like-minded people and talk shop. We all want to see this industry get better.”
Buck’s advice to others, especially students, is to move around — either through internships or jobs — to find best place, best sport, best level of play or best facility for you. Then, once you get your foot in the door, give 100% effort.
“It’s a hard job. It’s not fun to work outside when it’s pouring rain and you have to pull a tarp, or when it’s 5 degrees outside snowing sideways and you’re the only person at the facility,” he said. “But then there are those days where it’s just the best. It’s a labor of love, but the industry accepts and rewards people who show up every day and give 100% effort.”
When he’s not at work, and not playing or watching soccer, C.J. Buck is busy being husband to his high school sweetheart, Brittany, and father to his daughter, June, who was born in February of 2024.
“She’s walking and talking and able to start playing around and have a good time,” he said. “We also have three dalmatians — Tyson, Rebel and Cora. We don’t like a calm house. I enjoy fishing, running and being outdoors. And I enjoy a nice nap on the couch with soccer on in the background.”
Being selected as a SportsField Management Rising Star “means everything” to Buck.
“There are lonely tasks, lonely days on the job, but it always comes back to being part of a grounds crew,” he said. “It’s a crew of people, so it’s not any one person who has ever truly earned the spotlight on their own. It’s always the effort of multiple people. Now it’s a bit different for me being in sales, but still being thought of in this regard by folks who are doing the same thing I was doing fills me with more pride than I can express.”
Buck added that he never won a Field of the Year award or other accolades, but takes pride in seeing his former interns and assistants go on to achieve bigger roles in the sports field management industry. He has had former assistants or interns go on to head groundskeeping jobs in Saint Louis, Orlando and Nebraska, as well as a former assistant now running his own landscaping company.
Said Buck, “That is better than any award I could receive, and it really makes me proud.”
What their nominator had to say:
C.J. has worked tremendously hard to serve this industry and move it forward. He has mentored students and serves his local chapter and SFMA. He has shown strong leadership while creating new opportunities for himself and the sports field managers in his region. He’s not one to seek attention, but is deserving of this award because of his passion for the industry.
Born and raised in Sylacauga, Alabama, Rising Star Award Winner Justin Danelutt studied Criminal Justice at Jacksonville State University; but a job at Cider Ridge Golf Club in Oxford, Alabama led him to an unexpected career in the green industry.
Later, when Choccolocco Park, a 360-acre multi-use facility, was being built in Oxford in 2015, Danelutt seized the opportunity to become assistant superintendent at the park, and has been there since.
Now, as director of grounds and athletic fields for the City of Oxford, Danelutt oversees Choccolocco Park, which includes a stadium baseball field, a stadium softball field, seven auxiliary softball fields, two auxiliary baseball fields, collegiate track and field, four soccer fields, a 40-acre multi-purpose cross country track, a 15-acre disc golf course, as well as approximately 40 acres of common areas that he and his crew maintain.
They also spray and fertilize grounds around the city, such as City Hall; perform landscape renovations in the downtown area; and help out with their sister facility, Oxford Lake.
The crew includes Danelutt, two assistants, a full-time mechanic and mechanic’s assistant, a housekeeping coordinator and housekeeper, 10 groundskeepers, and six to seven part-time workers during the summer months.
The fields at Choccolocco Park receive a heavy event load, starting in February with Oxford High School sports, including baseball, softball, and track and field.
“We host a spring break tournament that sees approximately 60 teams come in and out over three weeks in March,” said Danelutt. “We host several collegiate championships. We have hosted the Ohio Valley Conference, Gulf South Conference softball and baseball, Atlantic Sun softball, the Junior College Softball World Series, and state championships in softball and baseball. May is a busy time for us. And in June, we have three straight weekends of state tournaments for travel ball, and then rec league.”
The park director at Choccolocco Park handles the event scheduling, and works with Danelutt to identify windows of opportunity for cultural practices.
“We’re all natural grass,” said Danelutt. “The only synthetic we have are the hips on our stadium softball and baseball fields. The biggest challenge is trying to fit our cultural practices in that busy schedule.”
According to Danelutt, weather is always a challenge as well. And, until two years ago, staffing had been an issue. That was remedied when Choccolocco Park began utilizing high school graduates for seasonal help.
His message to his younger workers, and young people in general, is that if you work hard, opportunities will come your way.
“If I would have known that this was a career when I was in college, I would have gone for the turf degree,” he added. “It’s a great career path. It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s very gratifying. You are a part of these kids’ memories — they are winning state championships on the field that you maintain. They don’t know who you are personally, but they will remember that they won a state championship at Choccolocco Park when they were 12 years old. That’s pretty gratifying.”
Danelutt credits the City of Oxford with the support needed to make Choccolocco Park a success.
“The mayor and the city council understand what kind of economic impact this facility makes on the community, and they don’t give us any flack if we need anything,” he said.
During his tenure at Choccolocco, Danelutt has learned how to manage people.
“You have to be able to manage people differently,” he said. “People have different temperaments, and can handle things differently. You just have to adapt and learn and grow and try to learn your employees’ temperaments.”
Danelutt is also active in the industry and is a resource for others. For example, Talladega Superspeedway reached out to him last year because they were having issues with their infield. Danelutt consulted with Talladega, identified a drainage problem and suggested solutions. He and his crew also help Cider Ridge Golf Club.
“This is an industry where, at the end of the day, everybody has the same goal and you want to help your peers,” he said. “You want them to succeed.”
For Danelutt, the best part of the job is his workplace.
“You just can’t beat walking out onto a baseball field, and that’s your office.”
Outside of work, Danelutt and his wife, Amber, have a 6-year-old daughter named Lillian. They enjoy time at the beach, in the mountains, and especially trips to Disney World.
“We go to Disney World three or four times a year,” he said. “In the past five years we’ve probably been close to 30 times.”
Danelutt also enjoys building Legos and has a substantial Lego collection.
As for the recognition as a SportsField Management Rising Star, Danelutt feels a sense of accomplishment at being chosen for the award.
“My peers in this industry know the blood, the sweat, the tears, the hard times that it takes to have a facility like this,” he said. “It’s an honor to receive this award and for my peers to nominate me; but also this is just not an award for myself — this is an award for my staff. This facility would not be the way it is without the staff that I have. I’m probably a little biased, but I think I have the best staff in the country.”
What their nominator had to say:
I believe credit is due where credit is due. Justin loves to take a backseat to everyone; but when it’s all said and done, no one is more deserving. He has some of the best all-natural fields around, and it’s hands down because of his leadership. He puts his facility in a position to succeed. That’s what you want in a star.
Maintaining sports fields at the University of Kentucky (UK) started early for Rising Star Award Winner Marcus Elswick — very early. When Elswick was only 11, his older brother was already working as a sports turf student for Donnie Mefford at the University of Kentucky. Elswick, who grew up an hour from UK, would visit his brother on weekends, and would hang out with his brother and help with the soccer and softball fields.
After high school, Elswick was hired by Marcus Dean, CSFM, to work as a sports turf student at UK — a role which he held for three years.
“I put in a lot of hours, and a lot of hard work with Marcus, and then he offered me a full-time job,” said Elswick. “I worked with Marcus full-time for three years, moved around a little bit, helped at soccer and softball, went to baseball, then back to soccer and softball.”
During that time, Dean left to pursue a sales position and was replaced by Sam Cahill, who left three years later to take a job as a golf course superintendent. Elswick applied for the open position, and has been the head sports turf manager at University of Kentucky Athletics since.
“I was a huge UK fan growing up, so coming here and making it my own has been really fun,” said Elswick. “I love being able to work with my hands and being outside every day. There’s always something new and challenging.”
Elswick added that he enjoys being part of the UK team, and being in the transition zone.
“Our softball field is 365ss bluegrass with a little bit of artificial turf around the outside,” he said. “Game soccer is Ironcutter bermudagrass and practice soccer is NorthBridge bermudagrass. Baseball is synthetic turf with dirt mounds. Practice football has 4 acres that are Latitude 36 and NorthBridge, and we have an indoor facility that’s synthetic turf. Our stadium field is synthetic turf, and our track and field complex is Ironcutter.”
According to Elswick, a typical day begins with a 7:30 a.m. meeting with his crew, which includes four other full-time staff beside him (one for football, one for baseball, one for soccer/softball and one who floats around where needed). The full-time staff is supplemented by 12 to 15 students who arrive after 8 a.m.
“We plan out their schedule, and what we’re going to do for that day,” said Elswick. “After the morning meeting, the full-time staff will go out with students, get their tasks done, then we’ll have lunch, we’ll talk again about what we need to accomplish in the afternoon, get that accomplished, and then it’s time to go home.”
Elswick spends his days checking every field and facility, as well as the 45-plus acres of common areas and campus landscape for which he is responsible. A big part of his role is managing expectations, managing staff and balancing when to scale back or push harder.
“When dealing with students and being a mentor, you try to lead by example,” he added. “I pride myself on teaching students how to do stuff in this field. I tell them to lock in on the details and make sure that we’re doing a good job, because our
number-one goal is player safety. Following directions, showing up on time, and communicating will translate to any job or career.”
Elswick also takes pride in putting a plan in place, seeing the plan executed and then seeing the results.
“I’m proud of going from starting as a student worker, and being at the very bottom to working my way to being the head guy here at UK in about 10 years,” he said. “I’m very fortunate, but I’ve put in a lot of hours and a lot of work. But I’m still growing. I still have so much more to learn. I learn stuff from my students every day. There’s always a chance to soak in whatever other people are telling you.”
Elswick credits several people with guiding him thus far — most notably his father, who passed away six months after Elswick landed the position as head sports turf manager at UK.
“My dad is a big reason I do what I do,” said Elswick. “He worked in a factory his whole life, but he had a green thumb for landscaping and turning nothing into something beautiful. He was hard working, and would give you the shirt off his back. I would like to think a lot of who I am comes from him.”
Others who impacted Elswick’s career journey include Marcus Dean, who, Elswick says, took a chance on him not once, but twice, and pushed him to be better and do more; Josh Barnes, who “was the best teacher” and let Elswick embrace his creative side; Tommy Davis, Dave Thomas and Chuck Stivers, who were full of wisdom and taught Elswick many important life lessons; and Eric Haub who “took a student with no interest and showed him how to take pride in everything and go the extra step, work hand in hand with everything and don’t be above any job.”
Elswick has worked hard to get where he is professionally, but he also works hard to maintain work-life balance.
“My wife is awesome, and we have a 16-month-old baby girl — they are my world,” he said. “Once I get home, it’s playtime.”
In addition to enjoying life with his wife and daughter, Elswick plays basketball and likes just hanging out and spending time with his brother and friends.
He also stays busy outside of work through industry volunteerism, which currently includes helping to restart the Kentucky chapter of SFMA.
“We are trying to get the recognition that there are jobs and careers in this state for people who don't want to work in an office or who want to work outside and be around sports,” he said. “There are a lot of people who don’t know that this is a profession or that there is a science and a process behind it. The biggest challenge is trying to get people to learn what we do, and why we do it.”
As for being recognized by his peers with a Rising Star Award, Elswick said it means a lot to him.
“I feel like I’m far away from being my best self,” he said. “It’s very much appreciated.”
What their nominator had to say:
Marcus embodies the qualities celebrated by SportsField Management magazine’s Rising Star Awards. Year after year, he has advanced the Kentucky sports turf program – not just from a playability standard, but also by inspiring many student workers and assistants turf managers. He consistently demonstrates leadership and innovation in maintaining top-tier athletic fields. He shares his knowledge at industry conferences, fosters a strong crew culture, and mentors emerging professionals. His dedication to both the craft and community exemplifies the spirit of a rising star.
Hard work has always paid off for Rising Star Award Winner Mira Emma. A native of Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago situated 30 miles west of the city, Emma and her brother started their own landscaping business before Emma was even in high school.
“We would walk up and down the streets,” said Emma. “We had nine to 10 regular customers, and we would just mow the grass. We were kids, and we didn’t want to ask mom or dad for money — we wanted to earn it ourselves. We had two push mowers; one of us would take the front yard, and the other would take the back yard. That was the foundation of what I wanted to do as a sports field manager.”
A three-sport athlete growing up, Emma loved being outside and the competitive edge of sports. With her sights set on playing Division I soccer, Emma let horticulture and sports turf management guide her college decision. Iowa State University met the criteria for both academics and athletics, and Emma was grateful for the opportunity.
“My goal walking into that program was to be an MLB head groundskeeper for the Chicago Cubs,” she said. “So Barb Clawson and Adam Thoms were like, ‘How do we get you there?’”
As a result, Emma interned with the Chicago Cubs for a summer after being at Iowa State for three years; an experience Emma says was amazing having grown up as a Cubs fan.
“What a great group of guys —Dan Kiermaier is the head there, and it’s such an incredible crew with a bunch of different personalities. They made me feel welcome the day that I stepped foot on campus.”
While at Iowa State, Emma also participated in the SFMA Student Challenge.
“Salt Lake City was the first conference that I was able to attend, and I was able to compete with the guys on my squad,” she said. “It is a cool environment to see the perspectives of other individuals. Everyone specializes in their own ways — some people might be better at math or identification or the business side of things. I’m someone who loves the identification piece to it. I’m a very organized individual — making sure we’re on schedule and on time.”
When it came time to narrow her career path, Emma chose soccer. The internship with the Cubs showed her that 81 games of baseball is a very different proposition from soccer. Also, having played soccer for five years at Iowa State, Emma wanted to stay close to the game. So her next journey was to Louisville to work at Lynn Family Stadium (Louisville City FC and Racing Louisville FC) with Aaron Fink and his crew.
“I got to see the men’s and women’s professional side of soccer,” said Emma. “I fell in love with it. I wanted to stay around it.”
Following graduation, Emma seized the opportunity in early 2024 to be a
part of big things in Kansas City with the KC Current of the National Women’s Soccer League.
“I wanted to be part of the first ever professional women’s stadium built specifically for women,” she said. “It was their stadium building from the ground up. They have a training facility just for them.”
The team has two natural grass pitches and five artificial turf pitches. In addition, they recently built four more new fields and are building another stadium.
The biggest challenge for Emma was transitioning to the new job and taking on a bigger responsibility. But she embraced that challenge knowing this is something she had dreamed about for a long time.
Her goal? “Be the best that you can be every single day — even if that’s getting 1% better every day,” she said. “Be an inspiration and make the people around you better.”
Now, as Manager of Sports Turf and Grounds for the KC Current, Emma enjoys that every day is different.
“Day-to-day it’s figuring out what we need, prepping for events,” Emma said of her role. “What does match week look like? Making sure you know the patterns to be put in. We have match-day-minus-1 training on Friday; so, prepping the field, striping, painting, setting up goals, spraying to promote recovery, and being as proactive as possible. It can be a lot of different things — especially going from 115 heat index to 65 degrees.”
Emma’s advice to others is to ask why things are done and truly understand the day-to-day tasks.
“We’re in the women’s sports world and we’re part of a movement right now,” she added. “So it’s about putting our best foot forward, representing women’s sports, and representing who we want to be.”
At the end of the day, however, Emma does not seek the spotlight, and would rather shine that light on someone else.
“We’re all a team, we’re all grinding, we’re all working,” she said. “Sometimes no news is good news in this industry. I’m just doing the behind-the-scenes work and grateful for having a job that’s not inside and I get to mow grass for a living.”
According to Emma, it’s about having a strong work ethic.
“What better way than to be an impact on the field?” she said. “How cool is it to provide a safe and elite playing surface for the athletes?”
Outside of work, Emma said the key is finding a work-life balance.
“We have a job to do; but it’s okay to take a weekend to relax and truly escape from what we’re doing,” she said. “Sometimes we get so caught up and overwhelmed, and that adds stress. Grass grows 24/7, but that’s why we have a team. So, trust in your team.”
Emma is grateful for her team, her mentors, and the people who have supported her journey thus far. She is also grateful to be nominated and selected as a SportsField Management Rising Star Award winner.
“I was shocked,” she said. “My jaw was on the ground to know the support behind me. The biggest thing is to be valued for what you do. When you’re good at it, you don’t look for the spotlight, you just continue to put your head down and grind. But what a cool opportunity ahead? And there’s a lot to be done. I’m young, I’ve got a lot to learn, and I’m not perfect by any means. But it gives me a little more encouragement moving forward.”
What their nominator had to say:
When I see Mira, I see the future of our industry. She’s an extremely knowledgeable groundskeeper with an incredible attitude and work ethic that will inspire others to join this industry. Her facility has been top notch each of her years in Kansas City due to her attention to detail and care for the integrity of the game of soccer. Her work off the field is just as strong as her work on the field. So, when I say I see the future of the industry, it’s because I see someone with all the attributes to be a future president of SFMA.
Rising Star Award Winner Gage Knudson oversees one of the busiest multi-use venues in the country as senior manager, turf and grounds, for BMO Stadium — home of Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC).
“When the club started in 2018, the original vision for the stadium was to be a multi-sport venue that hosted soccer, rugby and lacrosse with the occasional concert,” said Knudson. “The following year (2019), when I arrived, we had three or four concerts on the books with the hope of another show or two the next year — and then COVID happened.
“Coming out of COVID there was a shift in focus of what we wanted to do from a business perspective, and that drove the concert business for us at LAFC,” Knudson added. “We hit it hard and had eight concerts; the following year we added four more onto that. We also added another tenant in 2022, when it was announced that Angel City Football Club, a professional women’s team playing in NWSL, would be playing at BMO Stadium.”
The event load at BMO Stadium now includes wide range of concerts and events on top of the full Major League Soccer (MLS) schedule for LAFC and the NWSL schedule for Angel City FC. In the last year, for example, BMO Stadium hosted 62 games, as well as 32 miscellaneous field events, including 16 different concerts, and 10 commercials or other film projects at the stadium. According to Knudson, that has become the sweet spot for BMO Stadium.
“We average somewhere between 2-1/2 and 3-1/2 days between field events over the last couple of years,” he said. “So a big part of my career is just trying to figure out how do you solve this Rubik’s Cube of high use.”
But Knudson is eager to solve problems and figure out how things work.
“I’m very driven and curious in what I do,” he said. “When I found out that I could do a job like this, that drove me and influenced my career. I had no idea that you could even get into this industry and that there were people who manage fields as a career.”
Originally from Junction City, Kansas, Knudson played football and baseball, and also wrestled. And although he grew up in the city, he helped on his grandparents’ farm by milking cows and mowing pastures. That led him to Kansas State University (K-State), where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, with a focus on turfgrass management.
While at K-State, Knudson worked at the K-State research facility, and also worked with K-State Athletics, helping out with soccer.
In 2018, he interned with the New York Red Bulls — the same year they won the SFMA Field of the Year Award. The work that Dan Shemesh and Neal Sitzman did in New York influenced Knudson in his career journey, and, following graduation from K-State, he took a job with LAFC in 2019, working at the team’s training facility.
“I did that for about a year and a half, and then took over the stadium in 2021,” he said. “I oversee pitch recovery, and long-term maintenance recovery of internal, external events. We have five full-time staff; I have two assistants — one at BMO Stadium and the other at our LAFC training facility.”
The LAFC training facility is located approximately 20 minutes from BMO Stadium, so Knudson’s crew is split into two separate staffs — each with their own equipment.
“We only have one training field for our first team, so it’s a high-use field,” he said. “Our training facility is located on a college campus (Cal State LA), so we share some property. We maintain two additional grass fields from an agronomic and maintenance perspective, which allows our second team and academy teams to train on them on an everyday basis.”
There are two fields at the Cal State LA site, and the usage schedule is broken down into two-hour windows. From 8 to 10 a.m. is the Cal State women’s team window, 10 a.m. to noon is the only dedicated maintenance window, noon to 2 p.m. is LAFC second team or a Cal State men’s team window, and then from 2:30 to 7 p.m. anywhere from three to five LAFC Academy teams train there.
“LAFC is a very well-oiled machine,” said Knudson. “We want to be number one on the field, and number one in the business. So that really drives the event load. Our goal is always to put out the most visually appealing and best field we possibly can. We understand that player safety is our
number-one objective. Conditions are paramount and then aesthetics come 1B to us. If we can get it as a 1A, awesome, we’re happy; but for us it’s always about playability and safety.”
The MLS season runs from February to November — possibly even into December. And Southern California is usually the first or last stop on a tour for concerts and other events.
“We’re very fortunate to be in a big market that allows us to tap into an employee force here out in Southern California to mobilize if we have to flip the field over in 48 hours,” said Knudson. “We have the resources to be able to do that. By improving our infrastructure and equipment, increasing grow lights and staffing budgets, we’ve been able to condense that window.”
Knudson estimates that he has handled approximately 50 concerts since he has been at LAFC, and each one is different. But he is constantly learning from the process.
“Dealing with a living plant is always challenging and no conditions are ever the same,” he said.
As part of that effort, Knudson relies on technology and data.
“I try to use as much data as possible to make the best decisions possible,” he said. “Rather than hoping we are making the right decision, there are pieces of equipment we can use to help guide us in the right direction. Like everything with technology and data, it’s trying to sift through that so you’re not getting bogged down in it.”
Foremost, however, Knudson relies on his team.
“We are very fortunate to have the staff that’s come along over the last couple of years,” he said. “We look for people who are hardworking, passionate about what they do, and dedicated. We have found success by hiring people who have those qualities and then we teach them the turfgrass side of things.
“I’ve been at LAFC, and I’ve risen up from groundsman to assistant manager to senior manager,” he added. “So I put myself in their position and I try to show them that if you are passionate about it and willing to put in the work, good things will come to you.”
Knudson learned some of those lessons from Shemesh and Sitzman, and also credits Jerad Minnick with helping to guide him on the data and analytics side of the business. He also recognizes the impact of Andre Bruce, a consultant at K-State Athletics, as well as that of his father-in-law, David Stuhlsatz, who was field manager at K-State.
He also credits advice he received from his cousin, who told him to “find the Google of your industry, and get them on your resume.”
“He said, ‘You’ll look back on your career and you’ll be really proud of what you’ve built.’ That’s what led me to the Red Bulls, and that’s what led me here to LAFC.”
The people of the industry — and the people he works with — are Knudson’s favorite part of the job.
“It’s like a family and those are values that are very important to me and my wife, Erica,” he said. “At a busy facility, how do you balance a busy life? Luckily, I have a very good staff who are rock stars and we’re able to split up the work. If we have work we need to get it done, let’s get the work done. If we don’t need to be here, let’s not be here.”
Despite the challenges of the heavy event load and balancing work and life, Knudson and his wife — who are expecting their first child — enjoy spending time together at the beach or going hiking or just slow days together taking time to relax and not always be on the go.
Added Knudson, “I’m very fortunate to have my wife, she keeps me grounded.”
What their nominator had to say:
Gage Knudson exemplifies what it means to be a rising star in sports field management. He has proven that elite field conditions and a heavy event schedule can coexist through data-driven management and innovative turf strategies. Gage’s commitment to his staff, and ability to adapt under pressure make him an invaluable asset to the profession. His dedication, leadership and impact on the industry make him a deserving recipient of the Rising Star Award.