Virginia Turfgrass Council – Member Spotlight on Ray Funkhouser

May 25, 2021 | Virginia Turfgrass Council | PODCAST

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Virginia Turfgrass Journal – Julie Holt, Content Director, TheTurfZone.com

The Turf Zone: Welcome to The Turf Zone. In this episode of Virginia Turfgrass, we’re talking to Ray Funkhouser, VTC Board Member. Welcome Ray, how are you today?

Ray Funkhouser: Very good, thank you.

TTZ: First of all, thanks for taking some time to chat with us for this podcast episode. Let’s jump right in and talk about your work in the turfgrass industry. We know you’re retired now, but tell me a little bit about your job in the past and how you got to where you are now, happily retired and living the good life.

RF: Well, actually I came into the turf industry about halfway through my professional career. My entire career has been involved with, particularly, the crop protection chemical side of the business and started off on the agricultural side, working with a number of crops starting off with the fruit crops here in Virginia and moving over to a lot of the agronomic crops. Then I had the opportunity to move over to the specialty side, which included turf, which was always an area of interest for me. So half of my career was spent specifically in the turf side, the turf management side.

TTZ: How big of a change was that to go from the agricultural side and move into turfgrass?

RF: Very easy to do – it’s kind of a natural transition because there’s so many similarities between the two. We’re dealing with plants, we’re dealing with a lot of botany and how plants grow, how they function, how they thrive and the threats that can attack them. So it’s really dealing with just a little bit of a different crop of the end result of what you’re trying to accomplish. But many of the techniques are very similar. Then you combine that with the fact that a lot of the chemistries that we use on both sides are the same chemistries. So understanding mode of actions and also weed life cycles are very similar for both the agricultural side and the turf side. It’s just getting to know very specifically what you’re dealing with and what end result are you trying to obtain.

TTZ: Where did you start with your education? What made you decide to go into this field and what route did you take from there? 

RF: I guess I want to say I’ve been very blessed in my career that I had exposure to a number of areas which truly led to where I ended up. When I was coming out of high school I knew I wanted to have a career in science, I wanted to have a job where I could be using science on a daily basis, and particularly on the plant side. I grew up, I was one generation removed from the farm that my father grew up on, but my family went back to that farm often. So I was surrounded by a lot of agriculture, and I liked that area. So I decided to go to, at the time it was called Delaware Valley College, which is now Delaware Valley University. I was originally accepted as a horticulture major, but I knew I needed to go on and get an advanced degree and in talking to some people that had gone before me, they mentioned about the amount of chemistry that was needed when you went into the graduate programs and some of them had to make up chemistry courses later. So I changed my major to biology just because, looking at the curriculum, I felt I was going to be better prepared for going on for graduate study with all the courses, and I wouldn’t have to so-called “make up” any weak areas. Which in fact was the case when I went on to graduate school, I was the only one in the group that I came in with that wasn’t lacking in one of the science areas that had to take some undergraduate classes to kind of get caught up. But specifically getting into the agricultural crop protection area, I was very fortunate in that at the end of my freshman year in college – and we had to work a total of 20 weeks during out time at the school to graduate, in some area related to what we were major in – very very fortunate to get an internship at American Cyanamid, they had a big agricultural research farm in Princeton, New Jersey. They gave out some internships for college students, and I was able to get one and I was working that summer in the insecticide screening department, so I really got to see the basics for how products are found, how they’re screened for and what the process was for watching, seeing some of those compounds move on later and how few of them actually make it to the marketplace. But it was exciting because I was in the industry and saw some numbered compounds there that years later, actually I saw make it to the marketplace as commercial products. So that kind of gave me my first intro to it, and I also had a couple of summer jobs throught college where I worked at a nursery and that was really learning some of the agronomic… I spent the summer ona cultivator and got to see a lot of the different aspects of the nursery industry. Then another summer I was with the US Forest
Service working on a gypsy moth research project that was a USDA project, it was based out of Cornell University, and I was stationed in the field. We were gathering tremendous amounts of data on the gypsy moth. This was back in the early 70s when it was really starting to be a problem and the aim of the project was to try to determine where the outbreaks would be so they could do control measures in those very targeted areas. So I was very fortunate coming out of college to have had some experience in the industry.

TTZ: That’s amazing – that’s a very well-rounded set of jobs and internships and educational opportunities. I think that ties in so well now with new turfgrass managers coming into the industry. How would you advise new turfgrass managers on getting all of that information and anybody in the field, actually, on how to get their feet wet in all of the areas that are necessary to be in this field?

RF: Don’t limit yourself to one particular idea or image that you may have of what you want to do. Be open for opportunities that may arise and you may have to take advantage of, to learn as much about all different aspects of it. I’ve run across many people, in fact most people, when they settle into one part of their career, or the main part of their career where they spend most of their years, that was not where they started. That was not where they thought they wanted to be, but they looked at opportunities and just learning as much as they could about the different aspects of it, whether it’s the agronomic end of it, whether it’s the equipment end of it, whether it’s just even weather conditions – there are many different areas and it’s just as much information, particularly when you’re around people that have expertise in many different areas, just soak up as much information as you can from them. Like I said, you never know what door may open for you that can be very, very gratifying to you.

TTZ: That ties in so well to the importance of industry associations, for example the VTC. You’ve spent a lot of time volunteering your expertise and your time for industry associations. Can you tell me why that’s so important to you and what your experience has been with that? 

RF: I don’t necessarily look at it as ‘volunteering’ as it is investing, I think it’s an investment in your career, and it’s also an investment for the industry. There are a lot of things that need to happen for an industry to grow and survive, and it’s when people come together and invest their time, efforts and talents for the good of everyone, is how an industry grows and moves ahead. I was very fortunate in my first job that I had in the industry, that the boss that hired me felt very strongly about that – you needed to be active in there and give that time that may not be in your exact job description to be able to thrive. It also helps you professionally to get to know more people in the industry, because that’s also where you’re going to have different ideas, they have different perspectives on where they’re coming in the industry. And you learn about a lot of the needs of people in the industry, from a different perspective that you may not see if you just stuck to your very strict job on a day-to-day basis. Plus you make a lot of good contacts in the industry. Contacts that you get to know, so many times questions may come up in an area that you may not be familiar with or have an expertise in. But you have a level of confidence because you’ve met people through industry contacts and through your activities in the associations that you can call up and they can very often help you through some challenges you may have and some difficulties and things that will help us all. But the industry is under threats at times, and this is nothing new. It’s really been going on since the beginning of the industry, so its very important that industry is aware of that and can work together for the betterment of all.

TTZ: That brings me to some of our current challenges are definitely misperceptions about a lot of elements of turfgrass management. I know that has been first and foremost a topic that the VTC Board has been talking about and there have been some pretty exciting new things going on to address that. Can you share a little bit about how you guys, as a board, have begun to reach out to turfgrass managers and the public about those issues? 

RF: It all comes back to education. The better our people in the industry, our turfgrass managers are educated as to what goes on with the industry and in particular what are the benefits of turfgrass and how that relates particularly to communities and the environment in general, is going to help other people outside of the industry understand. So many times we’ve seen throughout the number of years where there are so many misconceptions that are mentioned and spread about turfgrass, about the benefits of turfgrass, and even more specifically even some of the agricultural crops, and the methods that are used to raise crops, so it becomes very very important that we become educators, and also salespeople from the standpoint that we need to be out there trying to help promote and sell the benefits of having good, healthy turfgrass in our communities and what it does for the environment. And now we have, with all the social media out there, things can spread very rapidly that are not based in fact at all. That’s one of the challenges that we have to deal with and we just can’t back away and say “well we know that’s not true.” Unless someone is able to show through data and talk about it that those things are not truthful that are being out there, it’s going to make it very difficult for the industry to grow and thrive, and also be an important part in the environmental stewardship picture.

TTZ: This is something that I’ve been excited to watch as the VTC leadership has almost recognized some areas, sometimes, if you’re a little behind the curve in responding to misconceptions. There are some that you can actually get ahead of and I think that you guys have really come up with some interesting initiatives to get ahead of some of those topics, really being out front with volunteering to do some environmental stewardship type of projects, the recent pollinator seed packet distribution that you guys have done through the Environmental Institute. Those have been some really great ways to put your ideas out front and center. Where did those ideas come from? I’m going to just assume it was your idea to get those things up and running. But I’d really love to hear how you as a board came together to start making those things happen. 

RF: Well I think it’s a good example of how industry people working together coming from different perspectives in the industry, and educating each other, come up with some pretty darn good ideas. I believe this is one of them. A number of people are certainly aware of the threats that are out there, things that are happening which are not based on fact, that’s when the idea is, what can we do as an industry to help with this. There’s been some projects that have been done over the years, but it started to come together as what can we do, because we need to do more and we have to be more organized about it. Part of it was that we formed the Virginia Turfgrass Council Environmental Institute. That is a new organization, and its function is to really support the mission and support the industry of the Virginia Turfgrass Council. Part of that is doing more on the legislative side, making sure that our legislators that are making a lot of the decisions that affect us very directly are aware of what the impact of some of those things are, what the needs of the industry may be, and how we can work together to be better environmental stewards. The second thing with the environmental institute and the way it was formed, was it was set up as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. That was going to enable us to get tax deductible funds donated to us, it will enable us to go out and look at more grants to do some projects. Just here recently in February, we did the project of planting beach grass down in Virginia Beach to help secure the dunes to get those root systems established and help protect those dunes from erosion. We want to greatly expand that program down there and do similar things in other areas. And this will enable us to go out and get donations to help cover the costs of these projects as well as grants that will help us and also be able to expand our educational opportunities for the members of the Virginia Turfgrass Council, people in the industry, because the more educated everyone in the industry is, particularly with changes as they come down will be very beneficial. So the board was in agreement, we need to be doing some things and this was part of the process that they saw in their infinite wisdom that can help accomplish that and move us into the future in a good position for the industry.

TTZ: You’ve emphasized the importance of sharing ideas and collaborating within the industry. Can you tell me, are there any people in the industry or mentors who had an impact on you in that way? 

RF: It really goes back and starts with my entrance into the agricultural area, and my very first boss was a tremendous influence and taught all that he had under him an awful lot. The importance of contributing, not only to your job, but the industry as well. And that kind of carried on and every boss I had after that had a tough measuring stick to measure up to. And fortunately I had some of those and I have to go back with the Virginia Turfgrass, my contact with them, and a person that was very involved with it was Mr. Bob Ruff and also his son, Bob Ruff Jr., was a golf course superintendent that gave a lot to the industry, now Bob Ruff Sr. worked for a chemical distributor that was one of my customers when I started out on the ag side. I used to go down to Roanoke and I would ride around with Bob Ruff Sr. two to three days for a week. Every month I went down to the Roanoke area calling on fruit growers. He educated me a lot about what was going on in the orchards, we would climb trees, looking for those young instars of certain insects and looking for egg masses, so we could alert the grower that here’s some situations you’re going to have to be watching out for. When his son got involved in the turf industry and Bob got involved and was always pointing out things to me on that turf side. What was interesting to me was the original company I was with on the ag side, Stalford Chemical, developed a chemistry that was used in vegetables that they found worked very well for controlling poa on bentgrass golf greens. They developed that and brought that into the marketplace and that was their first turf product and what I find interesting – the company I ended up with, PBI Gordon, at the end, that chemistry, I was still able to promote and sell that product forty-some years later. That was one of those transitions of chemistry coming over from the agricultural side over to the specialty, turf side. It was fun to see that and see it over the years and the fact that it’s still a very useful tool.

TTZ: Ray, I’m going to take a hard left, and since you’re retired, I do have to ask – what are you doing with yourself? Are you sitting pondering the days of traveling and working, or… what have you got going on?

RF: Well it seems now, and I’ve heard people say it, and I’m as busy as I’ve ever been. You get involved, and again, supporting a number of things in your life that are important to you. I’m still involved very actively with the alumni association at Delaware Valley University, I think they keep me around to help them remember some of the history. I served as president of the alumni association and one of the very rewarding things was serving on the board of trustees of the school for a number of years. So I still keep my hand in there. Church always takes a fair amount of time and commitment, trying to do things there. My wife and I teach Sunday school and every once in a while they need somebody to fill in to deliver a message and I’m happy to be able to help out with that when it comes up. But a lot of my time is spent with track and field. I’ve been involved in track and field continuously since 1965 when I was a freshman in high school. I went out for the track team and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that here, all these years later that I would still be as active as I am, both as an athlete, but now as an official, and an administrator. It has brought a lot to my life, I think it’s helped with my professional career as well. I guess being an athlete it helps you direct your time. You set goals, you have a certain time to do it, schedule it, so you don’t have a lot of time to waste to be able to waste to get everything done. I’ve been fortunate enough that track and field has taken me around the world to a number of places I know that I would have never been able to go on my own. As a result, just like with the industry, you meet a lot of people and friends. I’ve met a lot of people from different countries that are involved in track and field and they have become lifelong friends as well.

TTZ: That’s fantastic. You know, somewhere in an email I saw something about you doing a triathlon where you jumped off a boat in the middle of a harbor. Now, is that accurate? Because it sounds terrible. 

RF: The last few years, one of the things I have been doing are some triathlons, and this is in particular doing it with my daughter, we’ve had several where my wife, my two daughters have done them all together. The one that you’re specifically referring to, it’s called “Escape the Cape.” My daughter was the one who said, “This looks like a different type of challenge, Dad. Let’s do it.” We’ve done it several times, we’re scheduled to do it again this year, but it starts off, they take us out on the Cape May Lewes ferry out of ape May New Jersey out into Delaware Bay and you start your swim by jumping off the Cape May Lewes ferry. I didn’t’ realize, particularly with no cars on there, you’re 13 feet up in the air when you’re jumping off the bough of it to get going, and I find out that the challenge is keeping your goggles. When you hit the water, you’re going to be going down a little bit before you come up and start and something I was also thrilled about with the triathlon was my one daughter and her family and my wife, we did a spring triathlon together with the grandkids. So there were three generations of us competing in that. One of my thrills early on was to be able to do some road races and things with my daughters, and now it’s fun to be able to have even my grandkids, all of us in the same race. I’ve handed over the mantle and the grandkids – I’m bringing up the rear and I say, “I’ll get there, but wait for me at the end.”

TTZ: That’s awesome. I don’t know if that’s life goals or if it makes me concerned that I don’t get to sit down and put my feet up when I retire. I don’t know which path is right. 

RF: I guess I’ve always said, I don’t particularly want to stop, because I don’t know if I’d ever get started again. So it’s easier not to stop.

TTZ: You may have a point there. You mentioned your family. I see that you and your wife are celebrating your 49^th wedding anniversary this summer? 

RF: June 3^rd it’ll be 49 years. We got married two weeks after I graduated, undergrad, before I started as a full time graduate student, going for my master’s degrees. I certainly owe her a lot to the things I’ve been able to accomplish with my job, I was on the road a lot and she has always been very supportive of what I’ve done, what has been important to me. It wasn’t a job I had, it was a lifestyle. It’s all wrapped in – you’re never off the clock, so to speak. There’s always people that call that have issues and problems, whether it’s with a clogged sprayer or whatever. You take that time – it’s a lifestyle, and I’ve been very fortunate that way. I am officially retired from that, but I still think I’m able to contribute to the industry and hopefully others will continue to do the same because we have some very brilliant people involved in the turfgrass industry.

TTZ: Let’s close on this — knowing that you’ve lived this lifestyle and been in the industry and really embraced all the parts of it, while maintaining your family life – and congratulations on that upcoming 49^th anniversary – what would your advice be for younger turfgrass managers or professionals about being involved in the industry, but also having a little balance there with family and outside interests? 

RF: I think it’s very important to have balance, to have outlets to have something that you’re just not totally, totally focused on one thing all of the time. I have seen people that have gotten into that way and they’re just 120%, 90 miles an hour, just going straight out, and you can get burned out. You have to look at what life is all about, certainly family is very important.. A lot of what we do is so that we can provide for our family. One of the things, again, I’ll go back to my very first boss that hired me into the industry. He said this involves the whole family. He not only interviewed me, but interviewed my wife so that she had an understanding of what this career was going to be and what it could be. And that it was a decision that we made as a family and I think that’s very important. And I have had other cases and some I didn’t where my wife was not interviewed as part of the process. But when you do a lot of the things that we have to do and the commitments, it’s very important. But having that balance is very critical and have an outlet. I’m a big proponent of staying active, which helps you with your health. And when you’re healthier, you have more energy, you can accomplish more. So that’s where the track and field has always been very important to me, fitting that in. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve done a lot of clinics on fitness and all, over the years, around the country and a lot of the times, people say that, “Well, I just don’t have time in the day for me to work out.” Or “I can’t do that because it takes time away from my family.” The way I always put it to them, that time you take each day, whether it’s to exercise or work out or whatever, that’s an investment in yourself, BUT it’s your family that’s going to benefit from the interest that’s generated, the energy that you get—you’re going to have more time, more energy with them to be active. So they’re the ones that are going to benefit by that investment that you’re making in yourself on a regular basis.

TTZ: That is great advice, Ray. Thank you again for talking to us and for everything that you’ve done for the industry, not just with VTC, but more broadly.

RF: Thank you very much, it’s been a pleasure and I’ve been blessed to be involved in this industry.

TTZ: Don’t miss an episode of Virginia Turfgrass. Subscribe at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also visit us at TheTurfZone.com.