George Toma, a native of Edwardsville, has been in charge of field preparations for all 54 Super Bowls. He is seen wearing the three rings presented to him by the Kansas City Chiefs — the 1966 Chiefs championship ring, the Super Bowl IV ring, and the Super Bowl LIV ring.
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WILKES-BARRE — Saturday’s mail brought quite a surprise — and then some.
“And then some” is my friend, George Toma’s, favorite saying. It describes how he has approached life and his career over the years. As George would say, I give it my all — and then some.”
George, a native of Edwardsville who turned 91 on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 2), has been in charge of all field preparations for all 54 Super Bowls.
Super Bowl LIV was especially sweet for George — his beloved Kansas City Chiefs won the title.
George sent me a note and a couple of pictures. On Sept. 1, the Hunt family, owners of the Chiefs, honored George by giving him a Super Bowl LIV ring.
George also has a ring from the Chiefs’ 1966 AFL championship season and one from the Chiefs’ Super Bowl IV team that won in 1969-70.
“This is a big, and then some, surprise,” George wrote in his note.”My heart still is in the Valley With A Heart — and then some.”
George wrote that he is “hanging in there” and that he is having a “great tomato year” in Kansas City
George still works. He still cuts his grass. He still loves what he does and he is looking forward to Super Bowl LV.
George has come a long way from Swallow Street in Edwardsville, but he has made the journey — and then some.
George has never forgotten his roots and where he came from — never.
George is respected by all who have ever worked in professional grounds-keeping. George has trained most of them, or he has advised them when they have needed advice. George is affectionately called “the Sod God,” and “the Nutty Gritty Dirt Man.” He has written books and given lectures and, most significantly, he has set an example for all to follow.
George Toma knows his business — and then some.
It was Lamar Hunt, patriarch of the Chiefs family, that recommended George to then-NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle to prepare the field for Super Bowl I. And the rest is history.
“I got a guy,” Hunt told Rozelle.
George has lived in Kansas City since 1957.
But before he moved there and went on to be the very best in his field — pun in tended — George used to carry “a limer” from Edwardsville to Wilkes-Barre to line the field at Meyers Stadium. His uncle, John Yarish, was the athletic director at Plains High School, and he bought the limer for George.
George’s father died when George was 10 and his neighbor, Stan Scheckler, the groundskeeper at Artillery Park for the Wilkes-Barre Barons of the Class A Eastern League, took George under his wing, teaching him everything he knew.
In 1946, George became head groundskeeper at Artillery Park, holding that position until 1950 when he entered the military and went to Korea. He returned in 1953 to find no baseball at Artillery — Wilkes-Barre had lost its franchise to Reading. George would find work at several ballparks, ending up in Kansas City.
From that first Super Bowl crew of five and a pickup truck to today’s 40-person crew and two tractor-trailers of equipment, George has been the man in charge.
It’s been quite a journey for George, one that always leads back to Swallow Street and Edwardsville — which is proudly displayed on his Super Bowl credentials.
George likes to tell people back here that their fingerprints are on every blade of grass of every Super Bowl that he has prepared.
Congratulations and all the best to George Toma — and then some.
Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.
