Man City making case for defense in latest EPL title charge

126384951_web1_Letter-to-the-editor1

Your view: Where is the election fraud, Mr. Haas?

WILKES-BARRE &mdash; George Toma has been the best in his field his entire life &mdash; any field, that is.
				Toma, a native of Edwardsville, will be 92 on Tuesday, Feb. 2 &mdash; Groundhog Day &mdash; and unless you have been living in an underground burrow with Punxsutawney Phil, you know that Toma has been in charge of field preparations for all 55 Super Bowls.
				As Toma and his crew prepare Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., for Sunday&rsquo;s Super Bowl LV between the Buccaneers and Toma&rsquo;s beloved Kansas City Chiefs, one can only marvel at the man, his work ethic and his life.
				I talked to George the other day. He was all about getting the field ready &mdash; how the sod was growing for 18 months in Georgia and how its blades are &ldquo;razor thin&rdquo; and how this grass will be the best-ever for a Super Bowl.
				After all, the Chiefs are playing and even though no less of an authority that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has made it clear that all minions of the NFL organization must remain neutral, Toma&rsquo;s heart belongs to two places &mdash; Kansas City and Wyoming Valley.
				George likes to tell people back here that their fingerprints are on every blade of grass of every Super Bowl that he has prepared. And he means that. He loves &ldquo;the Valley with a Heart&rdquo; &mdash; and Polish food.
				Toma said he looks forward to the Super Bowl every year. He said it gets bigger and better each year and he says he feels honored to have been part of all 55.
				George always says, &ldquo;I give it my all &mdash; and then some.&rdquo;
				A Korean War veteran, Toma gets as much pleasure out of preparing the Super Bowl field as he did laying out a Wiffle Ball field in his neighbor&rsquo;s back yard. That field hosts a tournament every year for charity, and it has raised several hundreds of thousands of dollars for veterans programs.
				When the Chiefs won last year&rsquo;s Super Bowl, the Hunt family, owners of the Chiefs, honored George by giving him a Super Bowl LIV ring. George also has a ring from the Chiefs&rsquo; 1966 AFL championship season and one from the Chiefs&rsquo; Super Bowl IV team that won in 1969-70.
				Grassroots
				On June 25, 2014, Toma returned to his native turf, paying a visit to Artillery Park where he learned his trade of grounds-keeping.
				That knowledge, learned under the tutelage of his Edwardsville neighbor, Stan Scheckler, sent Toma on a storied career as head groundskeeper for all 55 Super Bowls. He made his name at football stadiums, but a Wyoming Valley baseball park is where he started his career.
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve lived in Kansas City since 1957, but this is my home,&rdquo; Toma said. &ldquo;The Valley With A Heart is where I tell everybody I&rsquo;m from. The people here are like family. If it weren&rsquo;t for what I learned here at this place, I wouldn&rsquo;t be where I am today. This will always be my home town.&rdquo;
				As Toma walked onto Artillery Park, he recalled the old stadium &mdash; he pointed to where the rest rooms were, the bullpens behind the bleachers, the pump house, the offices in the center of the old grandstand, the trolley repair shop behind the third base line and the 109th Field Artillery horses.
				Toma said he could close his eyes and go back in time and hear the roar of the crowd as the Wilkes-Barre Barons took the field. He remembered players like Mike Garcia and Bob Lemon and Richie Ashburn and others who played at Artillery Park.
				&ldquo;It&rsquo;s in pretty good shape,&rdquo; Toma said of the field.
				Toma started hanging around at the park with Scheckler around 1941. Toma was a 12-year-old who lost his father two years earlier and Scheckler took him under his wing. Toma watched and listened and worked hard, learning his trade.
				In 1946, Toma became head groundskeeper at Artillery and Scheckler took over driving the team bus and doubled as the trainer.
				Toma looked around Artillery Park, remembering nearly every detail of what it was like back in the day. He also remembered what was across the street where Wilkes University&rsquo;s Ralston Field now sits.
				&ldquo;Garrahan&rsquo;s Farm was there and I worked the fields for 10 cents an hour,&rdquo; Toma said. &ldquo;Barney Lesko also had a farm and I worked for him too. And the coal mine was right over there by the dike.&rdquo;
				Toma remembered spectacular State Police rodeos at Artillery Park that ripped up the field, but were fun to watch. And Coughlin High School&rsquo;s football team practicing in the park &mdash; varsity in the outfield and junior varsity on the infield.
				&ldquo;This was real baseball in this ballpark,&rdquo; Toma said. &ldquo;Every time I would run into Bob Lemon, or Richie Ashburn or Don Zimmer, they would always talk about Wilkes-Barre. How it was such a great baseball town and how they liked playing here.&rdquo;
				Toma said the big trees along Northampton Street were small when he worked there. He said parts of the chain-link fence remained from the old park.
				&ldquo;If I close my eyes, I can see it all,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Those memories are still very much alive with me. This is coming home for me.&rdquo;
				Toma has come a long way from Swallow Street in Edwardsville, but he has made the journey and he has never forgotten his roots.
				It&rsquo;s been quite a journey for George, one that always leads back to Swallow Street and Edwardsville &mdash; which is proudly displayed on his Super Bowl credentials.
				Know that Wyoming Valley is a part of the game &mdash; it always has been. And as NFL Field Director Ed Mangan has said time and again. &ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t be a Super Bowl without George Toma.&rdquo;
				And follow Toma&rsquo;s example &mdash; always give it your all &mdash; and then some.

Toma still at it