school education was closer to the college level than the traditional U.S. high school level. “Tere could be 50 or 60 nationalities at school and most of them spoke three to five other languages. A lot of those kids’ parents were in the UN or were high ranking military personnel or IBM executives. Tanks to Facebook, I still keep up with friends in Pakistan, Israel, France, New Zealand and Australia. Many have gone on to high-level leadership positions.”

Te international experience made Fox more aware of, and sensitive to, other cultures. And it sparked what would become a life-long mission to keep learning.

Finding His Path His parents returned to the states for several years to “get their boys in college.” Fox started at the University of Arizona as a geological engineering major, but hated upper division math. He dropped out before earning a degree, taking a position fixing office copy machines.

At 21, he joined Arizona Nursery Supply, selling to nurseries and garden centers. New to the industry, he says, “I was eager to learn everything about turfgrass and seed, fertilizer and chemicals.” He started attending seminars, reading, asking questions— and he’s never stopped. In five years he was sales manager for the company’s golf and landscape division, selling and supervising five other salespeople. Ten the U.S. economy went through the savings and loan crisis and the company closed.

In 1990, Fox went to work for another distributor, Garden West, as a sales representative covering Arizona and New Mexico in their golf and landscape division, which also served the sod farms. “My sales reached the point where they couldn’t pay me directly without impacting cash flow so they offered me equity in the company as part of my compensation package,” says Fox.

TPI Turf News July/August 2017 Tis picture has a million dollars’ worth of equipment in view.

By 1998, Garden West had grown to the region’s largest golf fertilizer and seed supplier. Teir high-volume sales included 10 million pounds of perennial ryegrass for overseeding. Teir success drew a buy-out offer that the partners seriously considered and then accepted.

Fox says, “He’d gained a wealth of knowledge and experience, working for successful sod producers who were also influential people in the turfgrass industry and leaders within TPI.”

What they shared was the understanding that—no matter how large or small—each project is the

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Starting as a minority partner, he earned his way to equal partner.

He continued his mission to learn how to help other people grow grass better through seminars and classes. Garden West sponsored an annual event to help customers get their CEUs. Tey’d bring in the

fertilizer and chemical company specialists and university turfgrass specialists, including Dr. Joe Vargas from Michigan State University; Dr. B. J. Johnson, now professor emeritus, University of Georgia; and Dr. James B Beard, now professor emeritus, Texas A&M. “I’d have the opportunity to spend two or three days with them each year, tapping into some great discussions as well as their presentations,” says Fox. “Tey may not remember me, but I sure remember them. I didn’t get formal turfgrass training, but gained a wealth of education from them.”

Starting a New Venture Fox says, “We had just sold Garden West, but had not yet announced it publicly, when I got a phone call from Jeff Nettleton. I’d connected with him when he was farm manager for Al Gardner at Gardner Turfgrass’ Arizona operation. Jeff wanted to start a sod farm and asked if I might know a guy who would be interested in a partnership, primarily in exchange for providing the financial backing for the farm. I told him that guy might be me.”

Fox and Nettleton come from two very different and unique backgrounds. Nettleton got an early start in the sod business, working for Darwin McKay in Idaho during his college years at Boise State University. He’d worked in Texas for Ike Tomas and the Tomas brothers and then for Turfgrass America. He’d worked for Gardner and also spent some time in Australia, working with Rob Davies of Evergreen Turf.