A Remarkable
80-year Career
Cultivated By Hard Work
From preparing fields for the first 57 Super Bowls to traveling the globe to manicure fields, George Toma has earned his stripes as a legendary groundskeeper. In this book, he shares funny and surprising stories of his life inside the games.
Great gift for sports fans!
ABOUT
The Sodfather
The Sodfather chronicles the 80-year career of George Toma, who many consider the greatest groundskeeper of all time. George rose from hardscrabble beginnings in the anthracite coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania to manicure sports fields in stadiums and ballparks all over the world. While doing so, he brought attention, respect and honor to a profession.
In many ways George Toma became an artist. Green grasses and artificial turfs were his canvases and Super Bowls his masterpieces. “Nobody alive can carry George’s shovel,” former Kansas City Chiefs general manager Jim Schaaf said.
George has two creeds. The first is a work ethic where one gives his best effort – “and then some.” The other is that the best insurance for an athlete is a safe playing field. George’s insistence on safe fields created a conflict at times with the NFL and he gives his views as only he can – to the point with no punches pulled.
If you treasure people who dedicate their lives to a craft, this book is for you!
PRAISE FOR
The Sodfather
“Having a safe playing field still is the best insurance for players.”
– George Toma
HELLO
Meet the authors
George Toma
George Toma first worked as an assistant groundskeeper for the Class A Wilkes-Barre Barons in 1942, which led to an 80-year-plus career in maintaining and supervising some of the most iconic athletic fields in North American sports.
He got his first taste of big-league groundskeeping in 1957 with the Kansas City Athletics, who later became the Kansas City Royals. He also manicured fields for the Kansas City Chiefs. Toma worked the first 57 Super Bowls, either as head field supervisor or consultant. His highly respected work led to other significant assignments that included the 1984 and 1996 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and Atlanta and 1994 World Cup.
Toma, who turned 95 in 2024, lives in Westwood, Kan., with his wife, Donna. A Korean War veteran, Toma continues to give back to those in need. Just down the street from his home is the George P. Toma Wiffle Ball Field at the Hollow, where wiffle ball games are played all summer long. The field has helped raise more than $1.5 million to help veterans and first responders suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Craig Handel
Craig Handel has written for newspapers in Wisconsin, Arizona, California, Massachusetts and Florida. His 45-year career started when he was in junior high before he earned degrees in broadcast and print journalism at Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Craig also has collaborated on six other books focused on diverse topics ranging from tales from an Irish storyteller, a way to optimize mental performance in sports and business, a New Jersey entrepreneur who became a self-made millionaire, a female entrepreneur who mastered in buying real estate in Southwest Florida and building and developing nonprofits.
He considers being a consultant on the documentary Curveballs … Secrets to the Game of Life with John Biffar and David Van Sleet to be one of the most inspiring and rewarding projects in his life. He feels the men featured on this amputee baseball team offer an amazing perspective on overcoming adversity and living a life of purpose and meaning.
As a writer, Craig feels there’s a correlation between a great story and great quotes while there’s also a correlation between great quotes and the questions that are asked. This formula is one of the main ingredients in this book on George Toma as well as other books he’s written.
An avid gardener and swimmer, Craig lives with wife Isabel and their puppy Ollie in St. Petersburg, Florida.
SPILL THE PEAS
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