FIELD OF THE YEARSTMA 1999Year in the College

egion Field was a star in theCity of Birmingham, Alabama,when it was built in 1927 in

honor of the American Legion, as amemorial to V.S. Armed Forces mem-bers who gave their lives in service.Legion Field also starred in the 1996Summer Olympics when it served asione of four soccer venues. And it's a

tar now, as the STMA 1999 Footballield of the Year in the

CollegelUniversity division.

Legion Field is a city-owned facilitythat has been expanded and renovatedseveral times over the years to its cur-rent seating capacity of 80,673. Threecity departments playa role in its man-agement. The Park and RecreationBoard schedules and oversees events;the Street and Sanitation Departmentprovides cleaning and maintenancecrews; and the Department ofHorticulture and Vrban Forestry pro-vides all the technical staff and crewersonnel for maintenance of the play-

FieldII Field of

SI n

Legion Field, in Birmingham, Ala., is a city-owned facility with a seating capacity of 80,673.

ing field, the surrounding turf and thelandscaping outside the stadium.

,Horton Jr., deputy director of the department of horticulture and urban foresty.

October 2000

As Deputy Director of theDepartment of Horticulture andV rban Forestry, one of James E.Horton, Jr.'s duties is management ofLegion Field's turf and landscape.Because "good enough" is not in hisvocabulary, perfection is always thegoal. His annual management planincludes three improvements to makethe program better. These improve-ments were never more evident thanin the 1999 field renovation.

The original Legion Field hostedhundreds of football games on itsnative soil and natural turfgrass. Asfield use increased, artificial turf wasinstalled in 1970 and remained on thefield until 1995. Then a major reno-vation was undertaken for theOlympic games.

Horton says, "The football field wasexpanded to 2.7 acres to accommodatesoccer. The artificial turf materials

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Shallow root development resulted in repairsbeing needed from 1995 to 1998

Courtesy: Legion Field

and soil profile were removed. APower Drain system was installed,as was a Big Gun irrigation system.This was topped with a 12-inch baseof USGA approved sand coveredwith a 4-inch layer of 80 percentsand and 20 percent Canadiansphagnum peat. To achieve thissurface layer, pure peat was spreadover the sand layer and tilled into a4-inch depth. The turf was Tifway419 bermudagrass.

"While the return to naturalturf was welcomed by most, espe-cially the athletes, the field was notwithout problems. Each year, from1995 to 1998, we made field repairsthat were attributed to the layeredprofile. It caused shallow rootdevelopment, poor gas exchange,slow water infiltration and percola-tion, and higher than desired waterretention at field capacity. Rapidlychanging winter conditions andtemperatures, combined withheavy field use on the shallow-root-ed turf, contributed to poor turfdensity during spring green-up.The problem literally grew worseas roots developed and decayed inthe top layer of the profile despiteaerification. By the end of the '98season, we sought funding forremoval of the problematic 4-inchorganic layer."

Dr. Coleman Ward of UltimateTurf served as consultant for therenovation. From Januarythrough March of 1999, Hortonand Ward wrote and revised thespecifications for the new sand-based root zone mix tailored tomeet specific water percolationand retention rates. They workedwith Dr. Powell Gaines of TiftonPhysical Soil Testing Laboratory

to test sands and sand-peat blendsto match their criterion.

Horton says, "We decided on ablend of 90 percent sand matchingthat of our existing 12-inch sandlayer and 10 percent Dakota ReedSedge Peat. Ideally our profile wouldmeet this 90:10 blend. However, wecould not financially afford to start

over by removing the entire profile.We decided to take the next bestoption. The materials would beblended off-site, with the specifica-tions actually heavier in peat.Following the removal of the existingsod and 4-inch top layer, the 12-inchsand base was laser graded. The newblend was hauled in, spread over thefield, laser-graded, and then tilled

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into the sand base to a 7- to 8-inchdepth. This brought some of theexisting sand into the new material,giving us a 90:10 blend with the per-centage of peat gradually diminish-ing until it becomes pure sand at thebase of the profile. So, while we dohave some variation within the pro-file, top to bottom, it's a gradualchange rather than a distinct layer.This method was determined to beour best solution without totalremoval and replacement of theentire existing sand profile."

Bids for the project were solicitedwith an opening date ofApril 21, 1999.The target completion date was June1,1999, with the first game scheduledfor September 5,1999. Southern TurfNurseries was awarded the bid.

"Once the project began, it pro-ceeded without problems," saysHorton. "After the new blendedmaterial was tilled, the field wasthen fumigated with methyl bromideto eliminate any pathogens, nema-todes, weed seed, insects and anyremaining Tifway 419. Following the

final laser grading, the field wassprigged with certified Tif-Sportbermudagrass. Due to a delayedstarting date of May 25, 1999, thework wasn't completed until June 18,1999. The field was turned over toour department at that point to man-

age the grow-in. Our firstgame was just79 days away."

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Prior to therenovation,Horton's staffhad modifiedthe irrigationsystem,installing ballvalvesbetween theexisting gatevalves and theBig Guns tofacilitate theiruse. There aresix of theseunits, one ori-ented in allfour corners ofthe field andone at eachside of thefield at the 50-yard line. Allare removedfor games andother on-fieldevents. With

Circle 105 on Inquiry Card.

10 October 2000

irrigation nozzles similar to watercannons, each unit can deliver 380gallons of water per minute with a205 foot radius. Two units can beoperated at one time with only aslight loss of performance. To open orclose the gate valves required from19 to 20 turns of a valve key, eachturn taking approximately a second.Opening or closing the ball valvescuts the time to approximately 2 sec-onds, making the job easier, fasterand keeping the operator drier. Thisone of the trio of improvements for1999 was much appreciated duringthe multiple irrigation cycles neces-sary for establishment of the sprigs.

Horton says, "During the grow-inprocess, we found that Tif-Sport wasslower to establish, and slower toclose and knit together than our 419had been, despite our aggressive fer-tilization and a total maintenanceprogram fine-tuned to sprig develop-ment and weather conditions. But itreally took hold in late July and bymid-August matched our expecta-tions. The field was not only in greatshape for that first game, it per-formed well for the heavy schedulethat followed within the first 35 dayspan-which included six college andtwo high school games, 10 team prac-tices and one band competition-andfor the remainder of the season."

That "remainder of the season"included four college and six high

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school state championship footballgames, six park league championshipfootball games and one band competi-tion' and didn't wrap up until Dec. 11,1999. Horton avoided overseeding tobetter gauge the TifSport's perfor-mance and the weather cooperatedwith a milder than usual winter.Wear developed in the traditionalplaces: between the hash marks, fromthe 20 yard line to the 20 yard line,along the sidelines and at the fieldentry points. Field paint was used toadd color for the last few games.

"The turf didn't want to go dor-mant," notes Horton. "Some naturalgreen turf remained even after thefootball season ended despite severalheavy frosts. We all thought the fieldwould lie idle until spring, but then,the Alabama Sports Foundationlanded a premium event forBirmingham, a US Soccer FederationInternational Friendly gamebetween the US Men's NationalTeam and Tunisia. We were notifiedin late January of 2000 that it wouldbe played on Legion Field. To complywith the no visible logo request fromthe US Soccer Federation, we over-seeded the field with a perennial rye-grass blend in February.

"That gave us just 45 days to getthe grass up and growing. We usedour greenhouse range to pre-germi-nate 2,500 pounds of seed for appli-cation on Feb. 7. After two weeks, wethen added another 300 pounds ofpregerminated seed in the heavypaint and high traffic areas andmoved to in-season maintenance lev-els. The field was star quality for thesoccer match on March 12th."

Horton offered Dr. Ward and Dr.Harold Walker of Auburn the use ofthe field as a test plot for chemicallyremoving the perennial ryegrass thispast spring. He adds, "Several prod-

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ucts made a good showing, withManor the most impressive of thosecurrently on the market. As temper-atures rose, field green-up was excel-lent. Dr. Ward's inspection by cupcutter revealed strong roots 6- to 8-inches deep with good stolon and rhi-zome development."

ing the 1999 season involved anequipment up-grade. We were able topurchase a new boom sprayer similarto the one we already had but with amajor improvement. This one had adiaphragm pump instead of a cen-trifugal pump. As most turf man-agers have learned, turf paints causethe seals of centrifugal pumps toleak. The diaphragm pumps operateThe third improvement made dur-

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Renovations in 1999 created a 90 percent sand base that increased infiltration and perculation rates imd eliminated the 4-inch organic layer.

Circle 107 on Inquiry Card,

12 October 2000

without prob-lems with allpaints, fertiliz-ers 'and pesti-cides.

Horton hasworked withFie I dSupervisor,Donna Kent,on develop-ment of anaggressive andcomprehensivefield manage-ment programover the lastfour years. Hecredits herdaily attentionto detail andthe dedicationshe and thecrew consis-tently focus onthe field for itssuccess. "Icouldn't do itwithout her,"he says. "Shehas incredible

intuitive instincts concerning turf." Healso credits the cooperation and sup-port of the City Administration and ofthe other two City Departments, Parksand Recreation and Street andSanitation and their staff. Lastly, heappreciates all fellow employees ofHorticulture and Urban Forestry fortheir help during the year, and forputting up with him during the footballseason.

Horton facilitates cooperation bysupplying the departments with adaily schedule of field maintenanceat the beginning of each week so theyknow when mowing, fertilizing,spraying and irrigation will takeplace. He also communicates adjust-ments in the schedule to adapt tochanging weather conditions.

He says, "With the sand-basedfield, the Legion Field staff takesboth soil and tissue tests at the sametime every four weeks during thegrowing season and every six weeksin the winter. The results can changerapidly, with the soil test usuallyindicating the turfgrass is starvingwhile the tissue test proves other-wise. The tests are compared to finetune our fertilization program.

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sports TURF• http://www.sportsturfonline.com October 2000 13

Usually, potassium, boron, man-ganese and magnesium levels are lowin the soil, but in the sufficient rangein the tissue. Iron, sulphur and phos-phorus usually test in the mediumrange in the soil tests. However,we're keeping all nutrient levelsbetween the sufficient and optimalranges in the tissue .

."Slow release Nand K are usedtrying to get a sustained baselinehoping to avoid the peaks and val-leys of fertilizer release and leach-ing. Supplemental applications ofammonium nitrate, urea, potash andother nutrients are necessary tomaintain adequate nutritional lev-els. We'll often use liquid fertilizerand iron on the Thursday before aSaturday game to enhance the fieldcolor and the contrast of the mowingpattern because the boost generallyshows in the turf about three daysafter application."

While some college level footballgames have moved away fromLegion Field, the 2000 season is stillpacked with ten college games, nine

The XFL will come to Legion Field in 2001, as the field will host the home games of theBirmingham Thunderbolts.

high school games, and one bandcompetition. And, beginning a newera of Legion Field football tradi-tion, the Birmingham XFLThunderbolts start their first seasonof play in February of 2001, provingonce again that star quality hasstaying power.

Bob Tracinski is the BusinessCommunications Manager for theJohn Deere Worldwide Commercial &Consumer Equipment Division head-quartered in Raleigh, N. C. He servesas public relations co-chair for thenational Sports Turf ManagersAssociation.

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108 on Inquiry Card

October 2000 17