KC groundskeeper prepares for 48th Super Bowl

Kansas City’s George Toma, 85, is preparing this week for his first cold-weather Super Bowl.

Toma, who served as the head groundskeeper at Municipal Stadium and the Truman Sports Complex for the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs from 1957 to 1995, has worked as the head groundskeeper for each of the National Football League’s 48 Super Bowls. On Sunday, Toma will lead a crew of about 50 in preparing the grounds at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., for the game between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks.

This is Toma’s first outdoor Super Bowl in a northern city. His crew, in addition to hundreds of stadium workers, will have access to snow-melting machines, snow blowers and field heaters, which could come in handy as forecasters are predicting temperatures in the 30s with a 60 percent chance of a wintry mix during the day.

Former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle had admired Toma’s handiwork in a visit to Kansas City in 1965, the year before American and National football leagues would merge. That led the commissioner to hire Toma for the first Super Bowl in 1966, according to the Kansas City Star.  

Read more from the Kansas City Star.