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Pennsylvania Turfgrass – Julie Holt, Content Director, TheTurfZone.com

KAFMO’s Brad Jakubowski Honored with 2020 STMA Founder’s Award

When Penn State Plant Science instructor and KAFMO Board member Brad Jakubowski learned that he was slated to receive a 2020 STMA Founder’s Award, he says he was “utterly speechless and humbled. I felt so honored being considered for an award for an association I’ve grown to love.” Brad joins three other KAFMO members as recipients of the Daniel Founder’s Award for educators (Jeff Fowler in 2005, Dr. Andrew McNitt in 2000, and Dr. Donald Waddington in 1999); he is the tenth KAFMO member to receive an STMA Founder’s Award.

STMA’s highest honors, the Founders’ Awards, recognize those members who have made significant contributions to STMA and to the profession. Founder Dr. William Daniel set the pattern for educator/researcher involvement in STMA. The partnership between educators and researchers and the sports turf managers who incorporate these advances on the field is key to the progress of the industry. The Daniel Award recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to the industry through research, teaching, or extension.

Deep Roots

Brad Jakubowski is an instructor of golf course irrigation and drainage, landscape irrigation and water management, and turfgrass management in the Penn State Turfgrass Science program. He also manages PSU Turf Science’s digital presence. As a Ph.D. candidate, he is studying impact attenuation on natural and synthetic athletic turfgrass fields. Jakubowski has been involved with the green industry for nearly 30 years, working in the areas of residential/commercial irrigation, golf course, and sport field. He previously directed the two-year Sports Turf Management Pro- gram for the University of Nebraska and helped to develop their new Turfgrass and Landscape Management Degree Program.

Brad Jakubowski’s roots in Turf Management go deep. “I started in turfgrass as an eighth grader, taking care of an estate and working at a par 3 golf course,” he reminisces. “I built my first bunker with a skid steer loader back in 1987, and that bunker is still there.” His background in sports turf deepened while directing the University of Nebraska’s two-year sports turf management program. He had asked Tony Koski from Colorado State University where to take his students for a turf conference and heard about the STMA. “Tony said if you go there, you’ll never leave, and he was right. I didn’t.” He is a 15-year member of STMA, co-founder of the STMA Intercollegiate Student Challenge and recently served on the STMA board of directors. “There were and are so many mentors!” he says. Dr. Tom Samples gave him his first opportunity to speak at the Tennessee Turf Conference and is still one of his biggest supporters. He is also grateful to Mike Andresen, Lynda Wightman, Dave Minner, Tony Koski, Gwen Stahnke, Leah Brilman, and Andy McNitt. “Without them, my path in sports turf would have been extremely limited.”

Career High Points

When Jakubowski looks back on his career, this award is one of several high points. Another, he recalls, was the day they called him about his nomination to the STMA Board of Directors. “It was August, and I was working with a group of baseball players in rebuilding their pitcher’s mound. It definitely made pounding new clay a lot easier on a hot afternoon!” Another peak was helping to develop the STMA Student Challenge. He still remembers meeting with Chad Follis and Jeff Salmond in San Antonio years ago to discuss how to propose it. The first challenge in Phoenix had 13 teams competing. Since then, they commonly have over 30. “My biggest challenges have been working diligently to find or develop quality programming and education for the STMA membership. It’s a difficult association to outgive,” he says. “No matter how hard you try, they always have a way of giving back in abundance!”

In addition to his other responsibilities, Jakuboski manages Penn State’s online Turf programs. Covid-19 challenged everyone, but he was fortunate to already have been working on a new online turfgrass irrigation course. This gave him an existing online infrastructure to use as a supplement for in-person classes and made the transition to a full-time online course much more seamless. With the online structure in place, he could develop curriculum that was as practical as possible for his students. For example, he sent home packets made up of irrigation sprinklers, nozzles, and a valve, to be disassembled and reassembled in real time, giving the students some hands-on experience with their normal classwork. Teaching in a mixed mode, with some students present in class while other students were online, forced him to experiment with using both methods simultaneously. He says it was very rewarding. “I love teaching and it was an unexpected dream that I was fortunate enough to fall into. As they say, you’ll honestly never go to work a day in your life if you do what you love!”

Details and Dreams

When asked what challenges he sees for young people entering turf management now, he noted first that the field is becoming more competitive. “Make the most of every learning opportunity, whether in the classroom, on the field, or working around the home.” He advises aspiring turf managers to take advantage of internship opportunities. “There are so many good turfgrass managers willing to help you learn as much as possible, it would be crazy not to! Do multiple internships — the more you learn, the more marketable you become.” He also cautions that “the small things make a difference. Incorrectly apply Teflon tape, for example, and you may have a leak that breaks free at the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded.” At the end of a season, many turfgrass managers will discuss their options and an intern draft takes place, he says. Employers notice the little things, like who is not afraid to pound clay, do plumbing, rake grass, and fill water coolers.

Finally, he counsels, “Don’t be afraid to dream!” One of his favorite memories is of student Seth Burchill. “He dreamt of working with the Chargers and lo and behold, now he’s painting for the Chargers. That stuff really works!”