STEVE COCKERHAM— BUILDING ON EXPERIENCE TO CRAFT THE FUTURE

By Suz Trusty

Editor’s Note: Turf News asked Past President Steve Cockerham to look back over his career in the turfgrass industry to share highlights from the past and his vision for TPI in the future.

He had moved on to a position in research and development for Ortho, in Fresno, CA, when Grether connected with him. Following Cal-Turf, Cockerham worked as a consultant, owned the sod farm, and then switched back to consulting. In 1983, he was hired by the University of California, Riverside. Tey were seeking someone who knew research and knew production to serve as superintendent for the Department of Agricultural Operations research station. Tat proved to be another industry-impacting match.

All these segments of Steve Cockerham’s career build together, expanding horizons along the way.

Steve Cockerham views the turf at the agricultural experiment station of the University of California, Riverside. Photo courtesy of University of California, Riverside

Stephen T. Cockerham served as ASPA President from 1981 to 1982. He was owner of Rancho Verde Turf Farms in Perris, CA, at that time. But his involvement with sod producers began much earlier. It was 1969 when Tobias Grether, owner of rapidly-growing Cal-Turf in Camarillo, CA, hired Steve to put together a research department for the company that would focus on new techniques and new cultural practices in sod production.

Grether was a force in the industry; one of the five ASPA members that would later be honored for their “vision and unselfish dedication” in helping to organize the association. “Toby was a true visionary, eager to explore possibilities, and a mechanical genius,” says Cockerham. “Nearly six years working with Toby was fascinating—and the whole Cal- Turf experience was an incredible opportunity for me.”

Steve Cockerham brought his own unique vision, expertise and genius to sod production and the turfgrass industry. His start in turf included a segment as Dr. James B Beard’s “student labor” while Beard was working on his Ph.D. at Purdue. After Purdue, Cockerham worked in cooperative extension in Pennsylvania.

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Cal-Turf and the Sod Industry His Cal-Turf experience started with a road trip as he and his wife, Barbara, and their two-year-old son, left California in a company car, pulling a travel trailer, on a mission to hit the turfgrass research stations across the U.S. that had anything to do with turf. “We spent about nine weeks, meeting the “Who’s Who” of researchers and many of their students, who later became researchers,” Cockerham says. “Te trip allowed me to build a nation-wide network of scientists who shared their expertise. And, by the time we returned, I had a pretty good grasp on how to start a company experiment station.”

One of his first research projects tackled the issue of excessive turfgrass clippings. An article he wrote in 1969, “Te Cal-Turf Method of Clipping Utilization,” gives an overview of how he and Grether collaborated to turn the negative of excessive clippings into an asset—a component in poultry food. Cockerham says, “If I could figure out what a process needed to accomplish, Toby could design a machine to do it. Te results were unique harvesting equipment and an onsite clippings dehydration facility.”

As Grether began to expand Cal-Turf, Cockerham, whose role was now agronomist, was in the middle of the process. “We set up two sod farms from scratch, one in Irvine and one in Northern California,” Cockerham says. “Toby shared his goals for each site and I learned enough to develop the procedures, design the irrigation systems and determine the equipment needed to make that happen later for my own operation.”

Midwinter Conference and Field Day Tobias Grether served two terms as ASPA president, 1970 to 1971, and 1971 to 1972. Midwinter Conferences at that point were held in hotels. Cockerham says, “Toby wanted to stage something big to get the organization off the ground. He had orchestrated bringing the 1972 Midwinter Conference to

TPI Turf News September/October 2016