By Nolan Cain//Co-Editor

You’ve traveled across the globe to see your team play in the big game. As you walk into the stadium you hear the roar of the fans, you feel the energy of the stadium, and you look down to see that beautiful green field. A wide expanse of perfectly trimmed grass stretches out in front of you. The lines and numbers are expertly painted on, creating a stage specifically for the athletes. You may wonder how nature can be so flawlessly molded and, just maybe, if you can hire the grounds crew to fix your lawn. We talked to the head groundskeeper for the Carolina Panthers, Tom Vaughan, about what it takes to create such a meticulously groomed field week-in and week-out.

Tom Vaughan has been the Carolina Panthers Football head groundskeeper for the past 17 years. As a behind-the-scenes hero, Vaughan does everything from mowing the Bermuda grass to painting the field at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. With his crew of eight people, he makes sure the field is up to par.

How did you get into the groundskeeper business?

I started out when I was 14 working on a golf course. I helped the golf course maintenance crew. From there I got interested in it, and I interned for the grounds industry. I went to school at Clemson University later on, got a degree and started out in golf courses and that just led into sports turf and it kinda became a business.

What do you do during the football team’s bye-weeks?

So we will actually have practices and all, all up through the weekend. It gives us a chance to get some work done but there’s no activity on the fields. You know we may cut grass or fertilize or do some different things when we get a chance, too.

I know you probably get this a lot, but how do guys put the different shading and patterns in the grass?

That’s all the direction you mow it. The mowers have rollers on them, and when you go a certain direction, it rolls the leaf blade over with the rollers before you cut it. So that appearance you see is just the light reflecting off the leaf blade laid down in different directions.

Are there any special challenges associated with the Tifway 419 Bermuda grass?

Not too many. It’s pretty good grass overall. The biggest challenge is when it gets kinda like now, we start getting into winter. It’s warm season grass, and it starts slowing down growthwise and all that, so it becomes a little bit more of a challenge. But overall, it’s a pretty good one for our area.

What’s a usual game day for you guys like? Do you mow it before the game or after?

We usually will mow before the game and then afterwards, we usually mow to just kind of clean it up, that type of thing. And we just might fix a few little cleat marks, or little things like that, with sand. The next week we start to run our normal fertilizers and things like that.

Are you guys responsible for the lines on the field as well?

We do everything. All the painting and maintenance.

How long would you say it takes to line the entire field?

To line and paint the logos and everything, it’s about a three-day process. You have to do it each week.

What’s your favorite part of being a groundskeeper?

Oh, probably the actual game weekends, getting ready for game preparations. That type of thing.

What would you say your least favorite part of the job is?

I guess it can be tough at times when you have events real close together like last week where you had a game on Saturday followed by one on the next Thursday. That’s a pretty quick turnaround. It can get into a lot of hours and that kind of thing. I mean I don’t really have a least favorite part honestly. I like it all. You know I’ve been here a long time.