Turf Trouble-Shooter Cultivates Field Despite Seedy Foes

George Toma has this thing about dead pigeons. But only because he has this thing about live pigeons.

See, live pigeons have been eating the seed that Toma put down to grow grass. And this grass is especially important. Toma, 58, is being paid “handsomely” by the National Football League to grow it.

This grass is the playing surface of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, site of Super Bowl XXII, scheduled for Jan. 31.

Toma’s regular job is that of director of fields and landscaping for the Kansas City Royals baseball club. The NFL hires him to oversee the fields for all of its big events. As soon as he’s done with the Super Bowl, he’ll fly to Hawaii to check out the field for the upcoming NFL Pro Bowl.

No game, Toma said with a grim expression, is more important than the Super Bowl. In his mind, the “ultimate” game means the ultimate turf.

Call it the greening of San Diego as conceived by George Toma. That’s why the pigeons were such a nuisance--an albatross around Toma’s neck.

As soon as Toma arrived here in late December and started seeding the field--which he totally dug up, leaving none of the grass that was there before--he noticed that pigeons were eating the seed. More like devouring the seed.

San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium is a nesting ground for a lot of Mission Valley wildlife--opossums, skunks, cottontail rabbits, squirrels, cats and, of course, pigeons. Toma began asking around about what to do.

He said he checked with a curator at the San Diego Zoo. He was told he should find some dead pigeons and place them strategically around the field.

“That way, they would act as decoys and scare off live pigeons,” Toma said with a very grave face. “So, that’s what we did.”

Toma said it wasn’t easy finding a dozen dead pigeons. One night over dinner at an Italian restaurant, he told a waitress of his problem: Where could he find a dozen dead pigeons?

“My daughter is a veterinarian,” the woman volunteered, thus leading Toma to an animal clinic that provided a dozen dead pigeons to be used as decoy-like seed protectors.

“But you know something,” he said. “It didn’t work anyway. The live pigeons ignored the dead ones and ate the seed anyway. Finally, we started feeding the pigeons corn and seed, sprinkling both around the track. Then the seed started looking so good, we just quit worrying about the field.

“But, hey, no way is George Toma gonna kill birds. I wanted to feed ‘em, man! Birds are usually my friends. They can tell me when the seed is just right, or when there’s insects.”

Toma’s field does look terrific. It’s a lush, verdant green fit for the footwork of Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway or the lenses of television cameras that will beam the game to more than 50 countries.

In late December, Toma seeded the field with PHD, a special blend of rye grasses called Derby, Regal and Gator.

Gator is especially good in cold weather, the others in warmer conditions. This was his way of “covering all the bases.” The Gator has taken hold in the midst of the current cold.

After seeding, the field was swept and “sliced” with a big machine that leaves tiny holes in almost every crevice of the surface. Another machine left even more holes. Then the fertilizing started.

First Used Milorganite

He first used Milorganite, a substance made by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District. Milorganite is processed sewage sludge. Toma said it sharpens the green of the field and accelerates its growth.

He followed with Turface, a soil conditioner that looks like “exotic kitty litter.” Turface soaks up moisture. He then added Scott’s Turf Builder--like the kind you could use at home--to further enhance growth. And green.

Every day since, he has used Ferromec, an iron-based product, to make the green greener still.

Finally, he spread a huge plastic sheet over the field to simulate “the greenhouse effect.”

By Monday, Jan. 11, he was ready to mow. A day later, he watered. On Friday, Jan. 15, he removed the plastic for good and mowed again, this time to three-quarters of an inch per blade of grass--the length he’ll use for the game itself.

“You know,” Toma said, looking at his creation, “I was worried about all this cold San Diego was having. Cold stops seeds from germinating. But we got it whipped. Now it’s good that it’s cold. Roots--which took hold--flourish in this kind of cold. So, finally, I’m happy. Let’s play the game.”

Not Limited to Game Field

Toma’s Super Bowl tasks are not limited to the game field (all the improvements to the stadium’s field are paid for by the NFL). As the NFL’s lead groundskeeper, he’s also in charge of the practice fields at the University of San Diego and San Diego State University.

The Washington Redskins will use the USD field; the Broncos are stationed at SDSU. He had to worry about goal posts being shipped to SDSU from the Los Angeles Rams’ practice field. Neither USD nor SDSU had official NFL goal posts. (The Chargers provided the posts for USD.)

“We must keep it official,” Toma said. “The practice fields have to look just like the game field--in fact, maybe better. You’re gonna use the practice field more. It’s got to be in even better shape.”

Toma’s days in San Diego are packed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. He thrives on the work--and on the attention. An attractive blonde lawyer from the NFL walked over and kissed Toma on the lips.

“Ooh, I like that,” he cooed. “Those are the kinds of lawyers I like.”

With her fingers, she wiped the lipstick off his lips.

A minute later, he was joking with an executive from the Rams and then with one from the NFL. Everybody on the field Friday morning seemed to know George Toma--and couldn’t wait to joke with him.

Toma said he likes the role of trouble-shooter, of being somebody who can fix things fast. In 1984 he was asked by Peter Ueberroth, head of the Los Angeles Olympics, to fix the playing field at the Rose Bowl. It was slated to be used for the soccer competition, but in Ueberroth’s words, it was a mess.

Toma said he fixed it in less than a month.

“The International Soccer Federation came in and said it was the second-best soccer field in the world,” he said. “I did that. That was me.”

Toma is an officer in the Natural Turf Growers Council and a believer in the virtues of the verdant green. Ironically, both the fields he supervises in Kansas City--that of the Royals and the Kansas City Chiefs’ football field at Arrowhead Stadium--are artificial surfaces. He said artificial turf is harder to take care of.

“You’ve got to paint it, you’ve got to sweep it constantly,” he said. “If there’s too much dirt, it’s like concrete. It wears out fast. You’ve got to stay on top of it to get your money’s worth from it.”

Toma said he’s hardly an advocate for the removal of artificial turf--something the National Football League Players Assn. favors, believing it contributes to injuries--but he does say shoddy installation leads to perforations and dents and, thus, injuries.

All things being equal, he said he’d favor natural grass.

“They just need better quality control for artificial turf,” he said. “Much better. If you stay on top of it, it’s fine. But it’s a Herculean job.”

Toma said he would do “just about anything” to stay on top of a field he has been hired to cultivate, to grow and keep green. He said he takes “the utmost pride” in the ultra-green surface that now sprouts amid January’s chill.

He said he would even stop his car in the middle of the road--in the middle of the night--to pick up a dead squirrel, if he thought it would ward off seed-eating pigeons.

Toma said he did just that the other night.

“But you know, I got right up to it,” he said, “and it turned out to be a skunk! I almost picked up a San Diego skunk!”

He sighed--heavily.

“Maybe this business has gone too far.”