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WILKES-BARRE — George Toma can’t help but inject his Wyoming Valley roots into every conversation.

The 87-year-old Toma is once again heading the grounds crew for the National Football League’s Super Bowl. A native of Edwardsville, Toma has been head groundskeeper for all 50 Super Bowl games.

“It’s another day at the office for me,” he said. “It’s like putting on the lantern and going down into the mines.”

Toma doesn’t forget where he came from. He still refers to his hometown as “The Valley With A Heart” and he wants people back home to know he thinks of them often.

“On this 50th Super Bowl, I want all of Wyoming Valley to know that their fingerprints are on this game and field with mine,” Toma said.

Referred as “The Sod God” and the “Nitty Gritty Dirt Man,” Toma learned his trade at Artillery Park in Kingston under the tutelage of his Edwardsville neighbor, Stan Scheckler, when Toma was a high school teenager. That knowledge sent him on a storied career as groundskeeper.

Toma, who celebrated his 87 birthday Feb. 2, has lived in Kansas City since 1957 after growing up on Swallow Street in Edwardsville His father died when George was 10. Scheckler, who lived across the street from the Tomas, worked as groundskeeper for the Wilkes-Barre Barons of the Class A Eastern League.

Scheckler took the young Toma under his wing and Toma watched and listened and worked hard, learning his trade. In 1946, Toma became head groundskeeper at Artillery Park. He held the position until 1950 when he entered the military and went to Korea. He returned in 1953 to find no baseball at Artillery — Wilkes-Barre had lost its franchise to Reading.

Ed Mangan, the NFL’s Super Bowl Field Director, heaped praise on Toma. Two years ago, when Toma was battling a health issue, Mangan said he would go to Kansas City to personally escort Toma to the Super Bowl because, Mangan said, “It wouldn’t be a Super Bowl without George Toma.”

Mangan reiterated his sentiments about Toma this week, as he and Toma worked together to oversee the preparation for Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

“George is a legend,” Mangan said. “He’s done every single Super Bowl. He is a wealth of experience and leadership.

“He’s a keystone for the event,” Mangan added. “It really wouldn’t be the same without him.”

Toma was talking shop last week. He said the sod used on the playing surface came from Palm Desert and is the second-best sod he has ever worked with, noting it was grown on plastic so the roots intertwine, making for a firmer base. The best sod, he said, was used for Super Bowl XLI when the Colts defeated the Bears, 29-17, in Miami.

Toma arrived at Levi’s Stadium Jan. 10 and spent the next two days re-sodding the field while it rained, making it good for the grass.

His son, Ryan, is working with his father once again. This will be Ryan’s 33rd Super Bowl — his first was when he was a 6-month-old baby and was carried around by former CBS Sports personality Phyllis George.

Earlier this week, Toma said he and his 30-plus member crew had finished preparing the practice fields for the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers but there was still “a lot of work” to do on the game’s playing field.

“We have to allow for the halftime show rehearsals,” Toma said. “They trample the grass, but they are good people and we work together well.”

Toma will take Saturday off to attend the CBS televised show “NFL Honors,a’ hosted by talk show host Conan O’Brien. The two-hour prime-time awards special recognizing the NFL’s best players, performances and plays from the 2015 season will air nationally at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

The word is Toma will be honored for his work on all 50 Super Bowls.

“We’re just regular groundskeepers,” he said. “It’s a great, great honor to be here again working on the Super Bowl.”

Toma can recall moments from all 50 Super Bowls. He talks about legendary people like Lamar Hunt, former AFL commissioner, and Pete Rozelle, the NFL commissioner who, with Hunt, forged the merger of the two leagues, thereby creating the Super Bowl.

Toma talked about that first game between the Packers and the Chiefs — when the game was not yet known as the Super Bowl. He told how he had to come up with a logo to paint at the 50-yard line of the Los Angeles Coliseum and had four men working with him for that game.

For Toma, though, it all leads back to Edwardsville and the railroad tracks he walked to get to Artillery Park.

When the AFL and NFL merged, Rozelle held a news conference in Kansas City. He was asked what the difference was between the two leagues. Toma remembers Rozelle saying he didn’t see much of a difference regarding the caliber of play in the two leagues. But he did say he had never seen a more beautiful playing field than the one in Kansas City.

That was Toma’s field with fingerprints from Wyoming Valley.

George Toma, a native of Edwardsville, puts up signs telling people to stay off the grass at the site of Super Bowl 50.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Toma-Super-Bowl-50-5-1.jpg.optimal.jpgGeorge Toma, a native of Edwardsville, puts up signs telling people to stay off the grass at the site of Super Bowl 50. Submitted photo | Ryan Toma

Edwardsville native George Toma prepares the field for Super 50. Toma, 87, has been head groundskeeper for all 50 Super Bowls.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TOMA-Super-Bowl-50-3-1.jpg.optimal.jpgEdwardsville native George Toma prepares the field for Super 50. Toma, 87, has been head groundskeeper for all 50 Super Bowls. Submitted photo | Ryan Toma

George Toma demonstrates a Shear Cleat tester during preparations for Super Bowl 50.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TOMA-Super-Bowl-50-2-1.jpg.optimal.jpgGeorge Toma demonstrates a Shear Cleat tester during preparations for Super Bowl 50. Submitted photo | Ryan Toma

George Toma and some of the key crew members preparing the site of Super Bowl 50. From left, are Ryan Toma, Ed Mangan, NFL Field Director; Andrew Bossard, Cleveland Browns; George Toma, Karl Standley, Wembly Stadium; Luke Jenkins, 44 Farms; Shoji Ikeda.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TOMA-CREW-1.jpg.optimal.jpgGeorge Toma and some of the key crew members preparing the site of Super Bowl 50. From left, are Ryan Toma, Ed Mangan, NFL Field Director; Andrew Bossard, Cleveland Browns; George Toma, Karl Standley, Wembly Stadium; Luke Jenkins, 44 Farms; Shoji Ikeda. Submitted photo | Ryan Toma

By Bill O’Boyle

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Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.