We Are Knox...

Zach Ricketts '11 is a dual sport athlete, playing both football and baseball for
the Prairie Fire. But while the Galesburg native enjoys the competition on
the field, his greatest joy comes from caring for the field itself, maintaining Blodgett Field year round.

"I always loved mowing the back yard. When I was little, I made a baseball field in it. It was pretty cool. All the neighborhood kids would come over and play on it," he says. "I guess my motivation was so that I could play on it, but I really just loved doing it, so I just kept making it better."

By the time Ricketts got to high school, his coaches had heard about his field and asked him if he would be willing to maintain Galesburg High School's field. When he enrolled at Knox, Jami Isaacson, head baseball coach, and John Steller, director of grounds, asked him if he would take over caring for Blodgett Field as his campus job. He jumped at the chance.

This past summer, Ricketts put all this previous hard work to use as an intern with the grounds crew for the Burlington Bees, a Class A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. When the Bees were at home, a typical day for Ricketts began at about 9 a.m. and concluded at about 11 p.m. as he worked to maintain the field for this popular minor league team.

The goal of all this hard work? To be the head grounds keeper for a major league baseball team.

In addition to his time at Blodgett Field as both a member of the baseball team and grounds keeper, Ricketts manages to work his goal into the classroom as well. An environmental studies major, he is in the process of developing his own minor to fit his interests in field maintenance. He tries to use his knowledge of the environment by minimizing the fertilizers that run off the field and trying to spray on sunny, calm days so the chemicals are not caught up and distributed in the wind.

A typical day varies for Ricketts, depending on the season. In December, he can be found rolling and aerating the field. "Since the ground isn't frozen yet, you are still able to get a fair amount of work done" explains Ricketts. Come February, the best thing for the field is to shovel the snow off to help the ground warm up more quickly and dry so that it can be ready in time for the Prairie Fire's first home game. In the heart of baseball season, Ricketts can be seen mowing the lawn, making sure the diamond is in top condition, watering it down before a game, and lining the field.

When asked how he learned to take care of a field, Ricketts explains that he is self-taught. "I'm a member of the Sports Turf Managers Association. They have a magazine that comes out monthly, SportsTurf, from which I have learned a lot. I also had the opportunity to attend their regional conference last summer and got to meet the head grounds manager for the Minnesota Twins, which was awesome. I've also spoken to pretty much anyone who takes care of the community fields in the surrounding area and then the teams that we play. We are always trading ideas." Ricketts says. "I would also really like to thank John Steller. He has really helped me out, and he's a pretty cool boss!"

In addition to his various baseball duties, Ricketts still finds time to play on the football team, serve as the men's basketball manager, and be a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. When he reports for his senior football season this fall, he hopes that he will have learned a great deal from his experience on the Burlington Bees ground crew and will be one step closer to reaching his ultimate goal.