Tom Mascaro-

EntrepreneurextraordinaireThe turf grass industry pioneer who brought you the aerifierand the verticutter has long been a 'best friend' of superintendents.

Clay Loyd

Tom Mascaro's innovations for the turf grass industry have been so impor-tant that their names, like aerifier and verticutter, have become generic.

212

This is a story about a mild-mannered, soft-spokenbut inventive entrepreneur who overcame adver-sity to become an extremely successful - and

popular - businessman. He's also one of the best friendsgolf course superintendents have ever had.

You may have seen him chugging along in his wheel-chair at GCSAA's International Golf Course Conferenceand Show. He wasn't there last year because of injuriessuffered in a fall, but he has been there most every otheryear for many, many years.

This is the story of 81-year-old Thomas C. Mascaro ofOakland Park, Fla.

Without a doubt, Mascaro's greatest claims to fame arethe 1946 development of the aeiifier for cultivating turfgrassand the verticutter in 1952 for removing thatch. (Originally,the Mascaro Aerifier and Verti-cut were copyrighted tradenames that no one else could use legally. But both productscaught on almost instantly Tom says, and soon were imitatedby the competition. Today, both trade names have enteredthe language and have become generic.)

Both inventions revolutionized golf course management.And there's more. Lots more.

Tom Mascaro is a legend in his own time. He won theprestigious USGA Green Section Award in 1971 and theGCSAA Distinguished Service Award (DSA) in 1976. He'sin the Oklahoma Turfgrass Hall of Fame. There's even amuseum named in his honor and that of another turfgrasspioneer. It's the Mascaro-Steiniger Turfgrass Museumsponsored by the Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council on thecampus of Penn State University at University Park.

Mascaro has lots of friends, like Eberhard R. Steiniger,CGCS, longtime superintendent at New Jersey's famedPine Valley Golf Club. (Steiniger was featured in theNovember 1995 issue of GCM.)

Continued on p. 214

Golf Course Management I January 1997

M A s c A R o

RootsMascaro was born in 1915 on

Phillips Street in Philadelphia. He hadtwo brothers, Tony and Charles, andtwo sisters, Kitty and Mary. Mary diedwhen she was 3.

Tom was only 9 months old when

Present at the creationMascaro has rubbed elbows and has

been close friends with many ofthe world's leading golf course superin-tendents, turfgrass scientists andagronomists, including most of theimmortal figures. He knew everyGCSAA charter member, at least tosome degree, all of whom have passedaway now.

A writer and a speaker at many turf-grass conferences and seminars,Mascaro has published many technicalproduct bulletins, preparing most of thecopy himself. He's written articles invarious turfgrass publications, includingGCM. His works have been translatedinto foreign languages, includingJapan-ese, Italian, French and German.

Several of Tom's articles havefocused on other turfgrass pioneers;this may be the first to focus in depthon him.

For 14 years, Mascaro edited, pub-lishedand distributeda free house organcalled West Pointers, and for years herecorded, published and distributed -also free - the proceedings of manymajor regional and national turfgrassconferences, includingGCSAA's. Why?

"Because no one else was doing it,"he says, "and it needed to be done."

For 21 years, Mascaro also con-tributed a monthly column called"Photo Quiz" to GCM. Last year hepublished a textbook, "DiagnosticTurfgrass Management," and he hasanother book in the works.

tion of more than 100,000 turf-relatedslides. At GCSAA's request he has dic-tated and videotaped his memoirs onthe industry. This featUre includes onlya fraction of that material.

For many years, Mascaro flew anaverage of 100,000 miles annually.United Airlines gave him his first Mil-lion Miler Award in 1951.

A member of GCSAA since 1948,Mascaro currently serves on the Her-itage Preservation Committee and isdonating to the association his collec-

from p. 212

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more than 60 years he's visited golfcourses and other sports turf facilitiesall over the United States. He hasconsulted on fine turfgrass and taughtabout it in several foreign countries.

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214 Golf Course Management / January 1997

EducationIn 1936, Mascaro earned a techni-

cal degree in business administrationand cost accounting from the Lands-dale (Pennsylvania) School ofBusiness. (Unfortunately, he couldn'tspare the 50 cents for his sheepskinat the time. He finally claimed it sixyears ago.)

Tom also learned from his father,Thomas L. First, the elder Mascarostudied photography and became a Continued

he was struck by polio. "It was down-hill for quite a while," he says. "For30 days the family was quarantined.We couldn't go out, and nobody couldcome in except to bring us food.There was an epidemic in Philadel-phia. Many people died."

The disease affected Tom's leftside. "Fortunately, there was a nurse(Sister Kenny, Tom recalls) who rec-ognized the value of exercising partsof the body affected by polio, and thathelped. Eventually, I regained use ofthe rest of my body. All that wasaffected was my left leg."

When Tom was 15, his fatherlearned about a free Temple Univer-sity program in North Philadelphiathat could help Tom. It was 1930 andmost people had little money, theMascaros included. With interns look-ing on, surgeons cut a tendon inTom's heel, lengthened the tendon,applied a cast and moved a musclefrom the front of Tom's knee to theback so that he wouldn't fall. At onepoint, there was terrifying hammeringand chiseling. Finally, Tom was on hisown. Not only did he survive andcope - he thrived.

The best thing to do after thesurgery, the doctor said, wasexercise the affected limb. So Tomgot a job pushing 50 tons of cinderswith a wheelbarrow into dog runs ata kennel. Later, he worked in ageneral store moving heavy mer-chandise, strengthening his left legfor years to come.

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Entering the industryIt was also in 1936 that Mascaro

formally started his own company,West Point Products Inc. For severalyears, brother Tony was his partner.

projectionist in a motion picture the-ater. Next, he worked as an engineerin an ice plant. Finally, he decided hemight make money by raising mush-rooms. He learned the art, bought a12-acre farm near Valley Forge,moved his family and went into busi-ness. Tom was 5.

"It was profitable," says Tom."Mushrooms sold for around $5 apound. You raised mushrooms in thewinter and vegetables in summer.But it's not an easy business. Mush-rooms are a delicate crop. Moistureand temperature are critical - andthey tell you a lot about turfgrass dis-ease, incidentally."

Then came the Great Depression.Along with many others, Tom'sfather lost his money. People couldno longer afford to buy mushrooms.For several years, life was a financialstruggle. Fortunately, however, Tomhad a knack for turning lemons intolemonade. Spent mushroom soil,especially when mixed with otheringredients, makes good fertilizerand topdressing. That's how TomMascaro entered the world of golfcourse superintendents. Superinten-dents in the 1930s were makingtheir own fertilizer and topdressing.Each "green keeper," as they werecalled, had his own formula. Mascarobegan calling on them, listening totheir needs and customizing his prod-uct for them.

During World War II, Mascaro wasa machine shop apprentice in WestPoint, Pa., where he learned mechan-ical drawing, drafting and theoperation of machine tools. He alsostudied agriculture at Penn State,organic chemistry at Temple and inor-ganic chemistry at Drexel Institute ofTechnology in Philadelphia.

c

from p. 214

sAM

MASCARO

Golf Course Management / January 1997 217

M A s c A R o

In 1969, West Point Products mergedwith Kearney National Corp., whichlater acquired Hahn Inc. Tom retiredin 1973, moved to Florida and startedanother company, Turfgrass ProductsCorp., now Turf-Tee International.Son John joined Tom as president ofTurf-Tee in 1986.

(Tom Mascaro has five children:Stella [from a previous marriage],John, Bobby, Tammy and Linda. Tomand his wife, Dorothy, were marriedon Dec. 28, 1957. They also havenine grandchildren.)

West Point Product's principalproducts for its' first 10 years werespecial soil mixtures for golf coursegreens, packaged potting soil andpackaged organic fertilizer. Mascaro

A mechanic at Pine Valley (N.J.) Golf Club. under the direction of course superintendent Eberhard R.Steiniger, CGCS, demonstrates Mascaro's verticutter during a GCSAA convention in Atlantic City.

MASCARO from p. 217

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says he was the first to marketpotting soil in 2-pound bags forhomeowners, selling to F. W. Wool-worth, S. S. Kresge, Sears gardenstores and nurseries.

Tom also pointed his companytoward the manufacture of machineryand other hardware for use on turf-grass. Of the 100 or so turfgrassproducts Tom's company hasdesigned and built over the years, 20were awarded U.S. and/or foreignpatents. Best known are the aerifier,the verticutter and the vertigroove,which was designed to remove layersof soil on greens and improvedrainage.

Other key productsOther better-known Mascaro prod-

ucts include:• The T.T. Truck (an immediate

success), a three-wheeled, one-person machine with an elevatedengine over the front wheel,designed originally to carry apatient on a stretcher out ofAfrican bush country.

• The power Dragmat, designed topulverize aerification soil cores.

• The Aerilift Trailer, which loweredflat to the ground for easy loadingand unloading.

• Grass-Cel, which is high-impactplastic paving designed to allowgrass to grow despite traffic.Always one to keep up with

change, Mascaro .started Turf-Tec primarily to provide diagnosticinstruments to help golf course super-intendents make culture decisions andmeet environmental challenges. Thecompany currently has 40 productsin various stages of researchand development. They are eitherimprovel1}ents on existing products orare new concepts designed to mini-mize labor needs or overcomeenvironmental problems. Prototypesof three of the products have beendeveloped and can be engineeredquickly to completion.

Mascaro has also:• Designed and built five machines

and devices for state researchexperiment stations, including soilcompactors, turf-wear machinesand penetrometers (for determin-

Continued

Golf Course Management / January 1997 219

M A s c A R o

ing compaction).• Introduced what he describes as

the first acceptable crabgrass con-trol - disodium methyl arsenate,known as CrabErad.

• Developed and patented a liquidnutrient solution that he sold for10 years, then sold the copyrightto a British firm.

• Developed and patented a battery-powered greensmower long beforethe recently introduced electricmowers in today's marketplace.

• Designed and built sportsequipment for Norwegian CruiseLines.

MASCARO from p. 219 Introducing the aerifierOne of the many highlights of Mas-

caro'scareer was the trip he took withbrother Tony to promote the aerifier in1946. Their itinerary included PennState, Purdue University,Chicago, Indi-anapolis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh andColumbus, Ohio.

Sizable, excited and enthusiasticcrowds greeted the aerifier every-where it went. Tom and Tony cameinto contact with such giants of theturfgrass industry as researcher / edu-cators Fred V. Grau, Ph.D.; HerbertAlbrecht, Ph.D.; and Gerald Mott,Ph.D.; GCSAA presidents Ray H.Gerber (1950), Norman Johnson(1954), Carl Bretzlaff (1949) and Mal-

co1m Mclaren (1952); and superin-tendents Arthur Snyder, Emil Mashie,Warren Bidwell, Taylor Boyd andColin Smith.

In Chicago, Mascaro recalls, "Emildirected us to the center of the fairway,where we set the depth of the spoonson tl1e aerifier. People were lined upon both sides of the machine as itmoved slowly down the fairway. Wethought something was wrong. Set at3 inches deep, the aerifier left no soilcores on the surface of the grass!

"We stopped the tractor to find outwhat was wrong. To our surprise anddelight, we discovered that as the aer-ifier passed along, people on eachside of the machine were picking up

With Tom Mascaro behind the camera taking this photo, a 1950 gathering of Philadelphia golf course superintendents examines the production model of hisrevolutionary, three-gang tur/grass aerifier at Mascaro's West Point, Pa., manufacturing plant.

220 Golf Course Management / January 1997

M A s c A R o

to learn more about turfgrass cultureand would like to travel with him toincrease my knowledge of the subject.O.J. laughed and said, 'Pack yourbags, and I will give you my sched-ule.' He really meant it! He would call

Continued

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was introduced to him at a meeting ofthe Philadelphia Greenkeepers Asso-ciation," Mascaro remembers. "I wasspellbound by his slide presentation ofhis experiences with golf course man-agement. I told him that I was trying

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the plugs of soil. Some people wereputting them in their pockets.Relieved, we got the tractor goingagain and aerified most of the fair-way. After everyone had collectedtheir souvenirs, they proceeded topoke fingers and pencils to check thedepth of the holes."

In Columbus, Ohio, "a few peoplebrought their mechanics to see theaerifier because they had refused tobelieve that the machine, with noengine (it was tractor-drawn), couldextract more than a ton of soil fromunder the turf without stopping play."

(Actually,several devices somewhatsimilar to the Mascaro Aerifier wereinvented before Tom's machine,including one 11 years earlier. ButJohn Mascaro says his father's wasthe only one that" cultivated the soil.")

University turfgrass giantsAmong the many university giants

of turfgrass that Mascaro has knownwell over the years were H. BurtonMusser, Ph.D., and O. J. Noer, aswell as Grau. With Mascaro oftengoing along and participating, theserevered turfgrass educators andresearchers, along with others, wentfar and wide to early turfgrass fielddays and conferences to share theirknowledge with golf course superin-tendents. To this day, they and a fewothers like them are sometimesreferred to as the "Traveling Trouba-dours of Turf."

"As I traveled with Dr. Grau acrossthis great country of ours," Mascarorecalls, "he held the turf world spell-bound with his inspiring lectures. Hedescribed not just the performance ofthe present world, he spoke of thefuture world. He promoted turfgrassresearch in areas and states that hadnever even considered such a thing.

"Fred Grau was a champion of thegolf course superintendent. He foughtfor their rights and inspired manyyoung people to enter the profession."

Noer was an agronomist for the cityof Milwaukee, whose name became

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Golf Course Management I January 1997 221

M A s c A R o

or write where he was going to speak- and tell me that I was on the pro-gram, too. This friendship lasted from1947 to 1966 (when Noer died). Hetaught me so many different things."

Musser thought so highly of Mas-caro that he sought Tom's opinionwhen he was about to establish theturfgrass science education programat Penn State.

World War IITo an extent disabled by polio,

Mascaro found himself classified "4-F"and therefore unable to serve inthe armed forces during World War II.But he found ways to help the wareffort while carrying on in businessas best he could in view of shortagesand controls.

"I managed to get a defense con-

MASCARO from p. 221 tract as a subcontractor, purchasedsome equipment and fabricated stain-less steel struts for wooden gliders.After the war, we found that theywere used in the invasion of Nor-mandy to fly troops behind enemylines. George Clouser, a very knowl-edgeable engineer,' allowed us toshare his machine shop. He patientlytaught us how to operate lathes,milling machines and the rest of theequipment he owned.

"Another contract we managed toacquire involved drilling valve tappetsto size for Allison airplane engines.Everyone else who tried to drill thesetappets failed. You could drill only oneor two pieces and the drill burned outbecause the chromium in the alloywas too hard. After trying every lubri-cant we could find and using a dozendrills, we gave up. While washing myhands one day, I used a large cake of

'Kirkman' soap. My mother used it forlaundry, and our clothes held the odorfor days. I took the cake of soap overto the drill press, pushed the soap intothe drilland clamped a tappet in place.The drill went right into the cup andexpanded it into its full size.

"Because gasoline was rationedduring the war, our visits to golfcourses were few and far between. Tokeep in touch with superintendents,therefore, I wrote letters and thenstarted a free newsletter called WestPointers. It was a single sheet,printed on both sides. It containedinteresting facts that I found in mywork. West Pointers was launched in1946 (shortages and some controlslingered for a period after the war)and grew to 1,200 copies a month.At first we sent out 200 copies locally,and gradually we expanded thenewsletter into a national publication.

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M A s c A R o

B1Io:q1uft HAS YOUCOVERED BOTH WAYS:

Continued

GCSAA charter membersMascaro says he knew all of

GCSAA's charter members, and manybecame personal friends. Tom esti-mates that 75 percent of his knowledgeof turfgrass culture came from them.

Musser would grade the papers. Thenew course was an immediate successwith golf course superintendents."

Because of the added materialMusser provided, Mascaro had toincrease the price to $15 per student.More than 15,000 superintendentscompleted the course.

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West Pointers went to some greenchairmen, distributors and salesmenas well as superintendents. The publi-cation was popular because it wasamusing, as well as informative. Itwas published for 25 years."

Correspondence coursesAnother of Mascaro's achievements

was the development of correspondencecourses in turfgrass management.

"While traveling into all areas ofthe country and visiting golf courseequipment distributors," Mascarosays, "I found that many equipmentsalesmen in those days were the bestsource of misinformation in turf-grass science. But they were anx-ious to learn and asked if 1 knewwhere to get a book on the subject. 1knew that Prof. Musser was writinga book for the USGA Green Sec-tion, so 1 asked him where salesmencould get basic reading matter onturfgrass cultures. He sent me abasic correspondence course onhome lawns that had been discon-tinued for lack of interest. ProfessorMusser suggested that 1 rewrite itand bring it up-to-date for salesmen.They could subscribe to the 10-les-son course for $8. They had toanswer all the questions within 10days. We would correct their papersand return them with the next les-son. We warned them that if therewas more than a two-week delayin answering the questions, theywould be expelled. Of the 265students who enrolled, only onewas expelled .

"When students completed thecourse, they received letters of congrat-ulations, their grades and diplomas.

"Golf course superintendents soonheard about the correspondencecourse and asked for one of theirown. 1 drove to Penn State and dis-cussed it with Dr. Musser. 1 agreed topay him $2 per student for reworkingthe course that 1 had developed forsalesmen. West Point Products woulddo all the production work and Dr.

Golf Course Management / January 1997 223

M A s c A R o

hand. He had a vision for the green-keeper, the organization and its future.To him, golf was the greatest sport forpeople of either sex and all ages."

• Joseph Valentine "was unques-tionably a leader in greenkeeping. Ashead greenkeeper at prestigiousMerion Golf and Country Club inArdmore, Pa., he supervised the mag-nificent layout of the East Course .and the adjoining West Course .Valentine placed men with latent abil-ity at each facility, and as soon as theywere qualified as greenkeepers, hewould place them at other courses inthe Philadelphia area. The Penn Stateturfgrass research. program was borndue largely to the efforts of JosephValentine. "

• Marshall Farnham. "I spent lotsof time with him on his golf course inPhiladelphia because he not only waslocated just a few miles from where 1

president, and he was "lionized forspearheading formation of the nationalgreenkeepers association. It was diffi-cult to even get near him to shake his

from p. 223

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~5~ MX

E1>...r.. ClI.fMascaro sitting in the Turf- Tec Water Management Diagnostic Instruments booth.

MASCAROHere are his impressions of five:

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Green Section Record summed it upthis way: "It is difficult to imaginewhere golfing turf would be todaywithout the mechanical maintenanceprinciples pioneered by Tom Mas-caro. He has contributed much to theturfgrass world."

lived, he also allowed me to try differ-ent machines before production. Hisopinions were invaluable. As a gradu-ate of Cornell, he knew the basics ofturfgrass management. He was agood critic not only on the mechani-cal aspects of the equipment, but alsoon the agronomic side."

• Leo Feser "was a gem. Bright,knowledgeable, turfgrass-smart, amus-ing and an accomplished writer .. Heheld the national association's magazinetogether during the Great Depressionby donating his talents as editor."

• EmilH. Pica "was a grand green-keeper at Minnekada Country Club inMinneapolis. He had a deep voiceand was eloquent when discussingturfgrass problems. At conventionswe would all squeeze into one roomto hear his philosophies covering thebeauty of a golf course and what aprivilege it was to supervise one."

Many years have passed sinceTom Mascaro came upon the golfcourse management scene. Therearen't many people left who knewhim well in those pioneer days. Mor-ley is gone, so are Noer, Grau,Musser, Valentine, Farnham, Feser,Pica and the others. One who sur-vives is Steiniger.

"We have been good friends formany years," Steiniger reminisces."Tom is a wonderful guy to be with.Professionally, I traveled all over withhim to Manhattan, Kan. (KansasState University); Texas A&M; Okla-homa; Canada; all over. Our wivesalso have been friends. Along withothers, the four of us have takenCaribbean cruises together, oncegoing to Panama. For a cruise ship,Tom and I built two putting greenscomplete with scorecards. They werevery popular on board. Even on plea-sure cruises, we were always visitinggolf courses whenever we wentashore. Tom's mind is always click-ing. He always wants to make thingsbetter. But there are two things Tomis not good at: bridge and pinochle."

When Tom received the GreenSection Award in 1971, the USGA

Golf Course Management / January 1997 225