countdown to tpi’s 5oth

anniversary in 2017 1980-1989

Te judges are ready. Let the rodeo begin. (left to right): Norm LeGrande, Jim Adams, Tom Tornton, Glenn Rehbein, Vickie Markham and Ray Weekley.

the immediate past-president as an officer. Te Tursday afternoon highlight was the first ASPA Sod Rodeo, with 15 teams competing, held at the Field Day Host Farm, Green Valley Turf, Platteville, CO. Owner Russell Wilkins welcomed attendees back the next day for on- the-field demonstrations.

1983

Te ASPA Midwinter Conference was held at the Hilton Palacio del Rio, San Antonio, TX, February 16-18. It was preceded by the “Turfgrass Water Conservation” symposium, February 15-16. Coordinated and co-chaired by former ASPA President Steve Cockerham and Dr. Victor Gibeault, University of California, it featured 12 research experts from education and industry who addressed water conservation as it relates to turfgrass selection, production and maintenance. Dr. Gibeault provided a summary of the symposium in a Conference session. On February 16, another pre-Conference event was held, the Financial Management Seminar, which also was summarized in a Conference session. Additional sessions focused on cost control in sod production, marketing, and sales, offering practical tools to deal with the recession and depressed markets. Te opening reception was again held on the exhibit floor. Te Council for Strategic Planning presented the ASPA Board of Trustees a five-year plan for developing and disseminating information about marketing, business and technology to “the membership and the Green Industry at large.”

ASPA’s legal counsel helped to place turfgrass sod within the Federal definition of agriculture to benefit members

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in labor and tax issues. Sodding S. A. of Buenos Aires, Argentina, imported Tifgreen and Tifway sprigs from Tifton, GA, establishing three acres of each to sell as sod or sprigs.

Te First International Summer Convention and Field Days, held July 11-13, at the Resorts International Hotel, Atlantic City, NJ, was hosted by the New Jersey Sod Producers Association. At a 1982 Board Meeting, the Board approved an International focus every third Summer Convention. A key session was the panel presentation by ASPA international members. Walt Pemrick, Warren’s Turf Nursery, Inc., Crystal Lake, IL, was elected 1983- 1984 President. Te tour visited Tuckahoe Turf Farms, owned by George and Tom Betts, in Hammonton and Tuckahoe, NJ. Te first summer Field Day was hosted by Novasack Brothers Turf Farm in South Seaville, NJ.

ASPA announced the management agreement with Executive Director Bob Garey, Shirley Potter, and the staff at Garey Management Organization, Gearing, NE, which began in 1974, would not be renewed. ASPA, and its members, thanked them for their leadership and friendship. Te search for a full-

At the 1983 First International Sod Conference & Field Day in New Jersey, Warren Schuch, Turfgrass Inc., Past President of Cultivated Sod Association of NJ (left) presents a plaque to Dr. Henry Indyk, Chairman of Local Arrangements committee.

TPI Turf News July/August 2016