As the University of Arizona football season swings into the mid-season, the five-man grounds crew that takes care of all the on-campus athletic fields is working seven days a week to make sure Arizona Stadium is looking its best.

The Arizona Daily Wildcat recently interviewed three of the UA's groundskeepers on the field at the stadium to see what goes on behind the scenes and what makes them tick.

The three are Chuck Raetzman, the assistant director of operations services, Bo Vanture, the grounds crew chief and Daniel Encinas, a groundskeeper.

Raetzman has worked as a groundskeeper at the UA for 28 years. Vanture and Encinas have worked here for 17 and nine years respectively.

Wildcat: What type of person does it take to be a quality groundskeeper?

Chuck Raetzman: A groundskeeper at an athletic facility is a very special person. Number one, they have to be interested in sports. If they're not, you are going to have a heck of a time to get them to really take care of an athletic field, because their interest isn't there.

Number two, a good groundskeeper who has the sense of ownership for his work. It is the type of person that can walk the field everyday and spot a weed or fungus. Those are the two keys of being a good groundskeepers.

WC: What type of training is required to be a groundskeeper?

Raetzman: The university has job classifications and the type of training depends on the specific classification. Preferred qualifications of a groundskeeper are at least two to three years of work at athletic facilities. That gives them a step-up here.

Also as seminars come up we will send some of our guys to them to learn some of the latest tricks.

WC: What are some of the responsibilities for upkeep of the stadium?

Daniel Encinas: As far as the stadium goes, we mow the field for an hour and a half three times a week before Saturday. Also we water twice a week for two hours each time. And then just general cleanup to prepare for the upcoming games.

WC: What type of grass is on the football field and what height do you cut it at? Has a coach ever requested the field be cut differently to gain a psychological edge over an opponent?

Raetzman: Well, here the grass is a hybrid Bermuda and it is the coaches' call on the height of the grass. Right now we cut it at five-eighths of an inch, but then on the practice field we will bring it up to an inch. I think that is probably because it kind of gives the athletes an edge. They feel faster going from an inch to five-eighths.

I have gone through six to seven head coaches since I've been here and each of them had a different personality, but all of them have kept the height of the grass consistent.

WC: Since you guys work so closely with athletics are all of you big sports fans? Especially the UA?

Raetzman: I came here on football scholarship. I played here so I feel that I have an ownership for the university in many ways because they gave me an education.

WC: What interested you in becoming athletic groundskeepers?

Raetzman: I majored in horticulture here. Then when I graduated I stayed in Tucson and worked for a landscaping company for eight years building baseball and softball fields across Southern Arizona.

I know when I played here the fields were awful hard, so when I got the chance to do something about that I did and we have.

WC: How much pride do you put into your work? Do you feel like the work you do is given enough recognition?

Raetzman: The coaches here have expressed to me their appreciation for what we do and that is nice.

In 1992, our staff won The Football Field of the Year Award from the Sports Turf Management Association. It was a very prestigious award and two of us got to fly to Indianapolis to receive it.

WC: What was one of the worst acts of vandalism that you can remember at Arizona Stadium?

Raetzman: The biggest example of vandalism we had was two or three years ago when we hosted a nationally televised game against the University of Washington. Somebody the night before the game came out and spray painted 'ASU' on the concrete and telephone booths around the Stadium. And then they poured some paint on the center of the field that spelled out A S U.

Because they did it really late at night, there wasn't a lot we could do to get the field ready. We tried to paint it with green paint, but because of the hot sun it browned out and by the end of the game you could see the ASU on television.

Security has gotten better over the years and now we have two people here on Friday nights before games.

WC: What is the strangest thing you have ever found on the field?

Encinas: Last summer, Bo and I came out here and noticed what appeared to be ash scattered around the 50 yard line. At first we did not know exactly what it was, but we finally noticed that it was bits of bone.

Raetzman: Back in 1977, the band Fleetwood Mac held a concert at the Stadium. People were sitting on the lawns and I guess a lot of them were smoking marijuana.

Well they must have spread it around pretty good, because a few days after the concert after we had watered a few times I noticed thousands of little marijuana plants popping up throughout the field. It took three days and many guys to completely walk the entire field and get rid of all the plants.

---

Daily Wildcat News Opinions Sports PoliceBeat Comics