Have you every wondered what kind of work goes into taking care of Death Valley or Clemson University in general. Check out this behind the scenes look.
I had the opportunity to talk with Kevin Bell, one of the head grounds keepers at Clemson University to get an idea of what it take to keep Tiger Town up and running.
Kevin Bell, also know as KC, is part of a group that takes care of 80 acres of land at Clemson University, as well as 10 more acres of landscape. They are who keeps Historic Riggs Field, the Intramural fields, Doug-Kingsmore, and Death Valley, as well as all the surrounding areas.
“Monday is our big day, said Kevin. We are pushing the grass, mowing it and then we’ll treat it all around campus. We want to make sure everything is cut.”
In addition to everything being cut and cleaned on Monday, the golf greens are cut every single morning and are taken care of throughout the week.
I was interested in what it takes to take care of Death Valley on a weekly basis and you’d be shocked how much time and effort goes into Memorial Stadium.
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First thing in the morning on Wednesday, the crew will come in and clean the sideline, the hill, and then the painters come in. The painters will have Death Valley until the team has their weekly walk-through on Friday.
As soon as Clemson football finishes their Friday evening walk-through, the grounds crew will come in and mow the field for the game Saturday. What’s surprising however, is the work this group puts in on game day.
Let’s take this weekend, for example.
With the game being played at 3:30 p.m., the grounds crew will be in at 9 a.m. They will mow the field, take care of any last minute cleaning, tape the carpet to the hill, and then make sure nothing is out of place. Then they will go eat and come back and string the field and roll up the hill rug once the Tigers have entered Death Valley.
During the game, the team will pick up Lot Parking flags before being able to come back and watch the rest of the ballgame.
After the game, the team will come back in and mow the field again once everyone has left.
Nov 29, 2014; Clemson, SC, USA; A general view of the field prior to the game between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Clemson Tigers at Clemson Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports
If the game begins at noon, the team will be out on the field around 5:30 a.m. cutting the grass and getting ready for the game. If there is a night game, the crew will still cut the grass, weather permitting, after the match-up has concluded-even if that means the game doesn’t get over until 12 a.m.
There has been a lot of rain in the area, as of late, which has created problems in parking lots. I wanted to know what was going through Kevin’s mind when the Notre Dame game was upon us and there was talk about 100,000 people coming into the area with a torrential downpour.
“We weren’t worried about the field at all, said Bell. The fields [Historic Riggs and Death Valley] were the driest places on campus. What many people forget is that we had two soccer games Friday nights, so we knew the drainage system was working fine. So, we turned our attention to the parking lots.”
Obviously, it wasn’t the grounds crew’s call if the parking lots were open or not, but they worked tirelessly trying to get everything to the point it could at least be usable for the game. You just can’t throw gravel everywhere, but the crew made the best of what they could.
“We spent the entire week after the Notre Dame fixing the parking lots. Unfortunately, we had another 1.5 inches of rain the Georgia Tech game, which washed away all the sand.”
The Grounds Crew went to great extents to fix up the parking lots, including using a helicopter to dry the rain off the fields.
I asked Kevin what do we need to happen to get things back under control and his answer was simple.
“We just need the sun to come out and dry them out.”
Hopefully, we can get some sunlight soon that will help bring things back to normal. Until then, Tiger fans, please be patient and keep in mind everything is being done to get the parking lots up and running to normal speed.
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One can never understand how much hard work and time goes into keeping Clemson University up and running until you are able to see first-hand. I want to thank Kevin for taking time to talk to me and thank the Clemson Ground Crew for all they do in making our University look nice and compete with some of the best in the nation.