Emerging out of the tunnel onto the football field in a packed Tiger Stadium amazes most players.
“It is hard to explain,” said senior cornerback Jonathan Zenon. “You lose everything. You lose sight. You lose your mind. You can’t breathe for at least 10 seconds. It is the best feeling in the world.”
The field in Tiger Stadium has been the stage for many historical moments and emotions throughout LSU’s history, but turf professor Jeff Beasley said most fans have no idea of what it takes to get the field ready for game time.
“Everybody just sits in the stands and thinks that it happens,” Beasley said.
The process begins after a home game when the field is fertilized in order to rejuvenate.
“After every game we cut [the grass]. Then we drag a buffalo turbine to remove any extra clippings or any chunks that were torn up during the game,” said Mark Lee, Assistant Manager of Athletic Facilities. “Then we fertilize it. We alternate between two different blends [of fertilizers]. We dump 300 pounds for the two acres.”
The field is mowed two more times during the week to keep the grass one half inch tall. Mowing takes approximately one and half hours to complete each time.
The group then proceeds to repaint the field.
“We probably dump an excess of 20 hours painting,” Lee said. “Wednesdays we do the first coat of purple and gold in our end zones. Then we do our first coat of our six foot white border.
“Thursdays we lay down all our cross lines, all our hash marks and all our numbers. Then Fridays we come back with our second coat of purple and gold, and we paint the 75th [Southeastern Conference] logo.”
The tiger’s eye, located at the 50 yard line, is also painted every Thursday prior to a home game.
“Saturday morning is usually shadows for our numbers, press lines and chain gang lines.” Lee said.
Lee also said more than 500 gallons of paint are used between home games and the paint is “turf-friendly” water-based.
The men who work for the facility work an entire day with some employees clocking 12 hours or more on most days.
“I get here most mornings at six, and I don’t leave until six in the evening,” Lee said. “I have a crew of five guys that work here at this facility, and on an eight-hour day, we will be in this facility alone for six hours.”
Lee said that the crew put in special hours for the Virginia Tech game.
“We were here until four in the morning [Friday] to finish the job painting and field preparations,” Lee said. “Most of our guys were back here at six in the morning and stayed until two or three that night after the game.”
Even when football season is finished, the crew has to protect the field during the winter months.
The field’s turf is made up of Bermuda grass, which Beasley said is resilient and grows quickly. Although the field is covered with this unique grass, Beasley said the field has its drawbacks.
“As the weather gets colder, [Bermuda grass] will go into dormancy and get more of a brown straw color,” Beasley said “So they will overseed this with ryegrass to keep that nice green color.”
The major maintenance worries for the field are the weather and the normal wear and tear of a football game. Lee said the field is raised slightly at the middle to help with drainage after it rains.
Lee said they recently thew out some overseed in anticipation for the colder nights. He also said most of the repairing of the field occurs after games.
“Grass grows by inches but is killed by feet,” Lee said.
—-Contact Amos Morale at [email protected]