Student paints Super Bowl XLIII field

Kyle Carney watched Super Bowl XLIII right from the sidelines.

"I had Larry Fitzgerald running right towards me," said Carney.

He also painted those sidelines.

Carney, a 4th-semester turfgrass management major at UConn, was the only student to work on Super Bowl XLIII's grounds crew.

He won a national competition held by the Toro Company to receive that honor. Toro selects one turf science student from the United States to serve on the crew for professional football's most important game of the year.

Carney received an e-mail from Jason Henderson, assistant professor of plant science in the college of agricultural and natural resources, at the beginning of the semester about Toro's contest. Carney said he knew he wanted to apply as soon as he heard about it.

He won the competition in part because he painted a replica football field, complete with lines and logos, on his backyard. This went above the 500 word essay and letters of recommendation required by Toro. He said that the officials at Toro liked the inventiveness of his application.

Calling Carney an "excellent student," Henderson also pointed out Carney's unique application as the reason he won. Henderson lauded Carney's knowledge and passion for turf science.

Carney's work began when Toro flew him, expenses paid, to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. He arrived on Jan. 25, one week before the Super Bowl and began working soon after.

As part of the trip, Carney had to keep a journal of his experiences.

The crew for the Super Bowl numbered 24 people and was gathered from grounds crews across the country. Carney said this was a small crew for the Super Bowl and the size was due to budget cuts by the NFL.

The entire crew lived in a condominium complex rented out by the NFL. Carney said that the perks, besides an individual condo, included a flat screen TV.

Unfortunately, the grounds crew didn't have much time to enjoy them.

Carney said that the grounds crew began work each day at 8:30 a.m. and continued for 12 or 13 hours, not finishing until 9 or 10 p.m. The crew would also go out together after work, Carney said.

Carney said the crew was very generous, buying him drinks and food during the week.

They also gave him a hard time.

"He called me everything but my name," Carney said of George Toma, crew leader and winner of the pro football hall of fame's pioneer award as a groundskeeper.

Carney said that Toma told him "[w]ith a name like Kyle, I'd run away from home."

Turf management luminaries on the crew included Ed Mangan, field director for Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves and Toma, who has been a turf consultant and advisor for every one of the previous 42 Super Bowls, according to Toro's website.

The regular grounds crew for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the usual tenants of Raymond James Stadium, were not involved in the Super Bowl preparations/

The grounds crew painted and maintained the field for the Super Bowl. Notably, Carney said that they applied over 250 gallons of paint to the field, and painted the logos three times in the week before the game.

Carney said the crew was split into four different groups, responsible for painting the field lines, the NFL and Super Bowl logos, and each end zone.

Kyle worked on painting the end zone for the Arizona Cardinals on the day before the game.

"By the end of the day, I was covered in red paint," said Carney.

A significant problem encountered by the grounds crew involved the field goal nets. Two hours before the game started, the crew realized that the field goal nets had an outdated NFL logo.

The crew had to repaint the nets in the two hours before the game started.

"There's always something," said Carney.

Additionally, Carney was one of the crewmembers that set up the field goal posts. They had to run strings and use levels to make sure the posts were true, Carney said.

He also checked the field for divots, filling them with sand and covering them.

The weather was another factor the crew dealt with during their preparations. Heavy rains fell on Thursday before the game, forcing them to secure tarps over the entire field.

Carney said that it was good to see the end results of working on the field. He said that a nice field is very rewarding.

Jason Henderson, one of Carney's turf science professors, said that comprehending the agronomics of the situation, or in this case the field, is important to proper management.

He also said that an understanding of sand, soil, weather and the time of year are vitally important in managing a field.

Henderson said that Carney is an excellent student, and his work is exceptional because he likes turf and sports. Most importantly, Carney came in early, stayed late and had an understanding that what needs to be done isn't always done.

Working with the Pawtucket Red Sox (commonly called the PawSox) of Rhode Island, Carney realized that he was more interested in turf management than the degree he was working towards.

Carney has worked on the grounds crew for the PawSox for the past five years. He has moved up in the organization to the position of assistant groundskeeper, a year-round position that includes offseason maintenance of the PawSox's field.

Carney worked for, and subsequently received a bachelor of economics degree from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He said that he started off enjoying that program and having the degree will help him in the long run.

"The math was too much," Carney said, referring to his decision to pursue another degree.

Carney has also worked on the grounds crew for UMass Dartmouth. In addition to his work with the PawSox, he works on the grounds crew for UConn's baseball and soccer fields.

Carney said he has always enjoyed working outside, having previously run his own landscaping company.

Carney hopes to continue his work with the Paw Sox after he graduates UConn and will look for a head turf manager job.