Mattingly: Neyland Stadium grass a canvas for Bob Campbell

There is a cliche that talks about something being "as boring as watching grass grow." That old line is not necessarily true.

I gleaned that from a long association with Bob Campbell, the man charged with overseeing the grass on Shields-Watkins Field and a number of other venues on campus. Watching him tend to the turf after the Georgia game was a cerebral experience, like watching a master craftsman at work.

Call him the "Guru of Grass" if you wish.

After home games five of the first six weeks of the season, an open date followed by a trip to Alabama could not have come at a better time.

Grass returned to the stadium in 1994 after 25 years of the fake stuff, and it couldn't have come a moment too soon for many of us old folks, those of us who are football purists. In the SEC, Tennessee started the move to artificial turf, with everybody except Mississippi State, LSU and Auburn following suit.

"Real grass is much more interesting," former Knoxville Journal sports editor Ben Byrd once wrote. "It sparkles with dew in the morning. It oozes mud when it rains. It has bugs and worms crawling around in it. It has character."

The 1968 turf, the version called "Doug's Rug" by Tennessee partisans, had a checkered career. By its second season, the Tartan Turf had embarrassing-looking black streaks in it. Auburn coach Shug Jordan called it a "Brillo pad."

Competitors of 3M, the company that had sold the turf to Tennessee for $230,000, were flying prospects over the stadium to let them see exactly what had happened.

There were a number of artificial turfs put down in the years to come; but, to many minds, nothing was better than the real stuff.

In fact, when the city of Birmingham put down artificial turf in Legion Field in 1970, Auburn tried to move the Tennessee game that season to Cliff Hare Stadium down on the Plains. It didn't happen that year, but the Vols did play at Auburn in 1974 and came for good in 1980.

In the summer of 1994 watching grass grow became a preoccupation with Tennessee fans.

Campbell noticed the zeal Vol fans have for the stadium where so many great moments have taken place.

"Tennessee people care a great deal about this field," he said. "People want it to be the best field anywhere. That's our charge."

It all started in June at the visiting players gate at the south end, about the time families started going on vacation.

"There's no telling how many people, how many families, have come in just to see the field and take pictures," Bob said. "It's truly amazing what it means to people."

It's a matter of history and having pride in what you do, he said.

"You think about all the great players who have played on this field and the great games played there. This field belongs to everybody who identifies with Tennessee tradition. It's a special place."

Campbell said he remembered a passage in a book called "Shoeless Joe," the basis for the movie "Field of Dreams."

In that book, the role of the groundskeeper is eloquently defined: "I would arrive before a game and watch the groundskeepers groom the field like a prized animal, then after the game in the cool of the night, the groundskeepers appeared with hoses, hoes and rakes and shovels and patched the grass like medics attending to wounded animals."

Bob Campbell and staff still attend to the field as if it were one of their own, before, during, and after football season. You can find him in an office under the south end of Neyland Stadium, an area he affectionately refers to as the "Bat Cave."

Campbell chuckles when he remembers a conversation between Bob Neyland and groundskeeper John (Deanie) Hoskins (1926-61) before any number of football seasons. It's something field professionals can identify with.

Hoskins was proud of the field he cared for and was said to have told Neyland not to worry about the field. At all.

"My field is always ready," he told Neyland and lived to tell the tale. "Can you say the same thing about your football team?"

That's why Bob Campbell has a picture of Deanie in his office sitting outside the old Vol dressing room on the east side of the field.

"When it comes to groundskeeping, Bob Campbell is more than a maintenance man," Randy Moore once wrote. "He's an artist. He has a 100-yard canvas for his work."

I remember going to the stadium July 5, 1994, to see the new sod. There was a strong stand of grass covering the field. It smelled like a stadium. Birds were pecking at the grass, looking for whatever it is birds look for.

It was a marvelous sight.

Still is.

Tom Mattingly is the author of "The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006" (2006), now available in second edition at fine bookstores everywhere, and "Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years" (1998). Send comments to tjmshm@comcast.net. His News Sentinel blog is called "The Vol Historian."

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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