The New York TimesThe New York Times

All hail the 'God of Sod,' groundskeeper for each of the 57 Super Bowls

By Ken Belson and Jenny Vrentas

09 Feb 2023 · 7 min read

Editor's Note

On Sunday, tens of millions of people will tune in to the Super Bowl. The NYT spotlights an instrumental figure for the event, usually shy of the limelight, known as “the Sodfather.”

GLENDALE, Ariz. — If you spend eight decades toiling to create perfect carpets of grass and end up believing that you never fully succeeded, your thoughts inevitably turn to the hereafter. George Toma’s certainly do.

For him, it seems safe to say, the Elysian fields will have yardage markers.

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