By John Kmitta
Soccer has always been a part of life for Rising Star Award Winner C.J. Buck.
“I started playing soccer when I was four or five and never looked back,” he said. “I wasn’t good enough to go anywhere with it after high school; but I always enjoyed playing, and it stuck with me. Soccer is always on the television – whether it’s live games, or replays, or me playing FIFA or whatever – it’s always around. I just can’t get enough of it. I’m addicted to it.”
Despite his passion for soccer, however, Buck did not set out with a sports field management career in mind. Originally from Suffolk, Virginia, in the southeast part of the state, Buck did not grow up on a farm, but was always surrounded by agriculture. That led to an interest in animal science and an opportunity to work with pigs at the Virginia Tech Agriculture Research and Extension Center while still in high school.
Buck’s goal of being a veterinarian changed with a tour of Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium led by Nick McKenna, CSFM. He went on to take turfgrass classes led by Dr. Erik Ervin, and from then on knew he wanted to be in the turfgrass industry.
“Virginia Tech was really the only program in the state that interested me,” he said. “Once I got there, Dr. Ervin had me working in the turf research labs with Dr. Zhang doing stress trials on bentgrass, cutting grass with scissors, and growth chambers.”
From there, Buck worked with Chad Kropff on the Virginia Tech rec fields as Kropff’s assistant for 18 months.
“That was kind of a stay-at-home internship, and then I swapped over to the D-1 facilities where I worked for Andy McReynolds,” said Buck. “He meant a lot to my journey.
“I got a taste of a little bit of everything at Virginia Tech – the research, the rec fields and D-1,” Buck added. “I really enjoyed my four years there. It’s a second home to me, and I’ve always enjoyed going back.”
While still at Virginia Tech, Buck interned with the Salem Red Sox. Then, following graduation, he went to Louisville to work for Tom Nielsen before returning to work with the staff at Virginia Tech.
Prior to the 2017 STMA Conference, Buck emailed every Major League Soccer (MLS) groundskeeper east of Kansas City to introduce himself and express his interest in soccer.
“I was 98% certain I was going to be in MLS for the greater part of my career,” said Buck. “Half of them didn’t e-mail me back, a bunch did that didn’t have anything open.”
However, two people emailed Buck back to express interest in meeting him. The first was Dan Bergstrom, CSFM, of the Houston Dynamo who had a position open for an assistant. The other was John Torres of the Philadelphia Union, who didn’t have any openings but still wanted to talk. Buck met with both during the conference and took the job with Bergstrom for the remainder of 2017. Then, in the fall of 2017, Torres reached out regarding an open position as his assistant, which led Buck to Philadelphia.
“My girlfriend at the time, now wife, got into grad school back east, so it made sense to go to Philly,” said Buck. “I spent exactly six years there, and grew from John’s first assistant to head sports turf manager. I was still under John because he’s still there, but his role grew as the Union grew and expanded its footprint. I took over the day-to-day operations and became head sports turf manager while John became director of grounds.”
Buck spent the next three years leading the crew as the primary person in charge of the playing surfaces for the stadium and practice fields, including handling all purchasing and hiring decisions.
“Managing non-overseeded bermudagrass in Philadelphia with no sub heat is something I’m super proud of,” he said. “I have every picture from every day throughout the year to show the good, the bad and the ugly. The team loved the surface and how well it played. That makes me happy.”
Buck added that he treats everyone he works with as he would want to be treated. “I wanted to build them up to have the confidence to do something their own way, figure out better ways to do things and then trust them to go do the job.”
But midway through 2023, seeking more work-life balance, Buck began entertaining thoughts of other career opportunities. He mentioned this to some of his sales reps, and Eric Shilling of Harrell’s suggested to Buck a career shift to sales. At the time, Harrell’s didn’t have any sales reps in the region with a sports turf background.
“They liked the sports turf background because it was different than everybody else on the crew in in our region. I left the Union on December 31, 2023, and I’ve been with Harrell’s for 18 months. I’m really enjoying it.”
The initial transition from being a practitioner to being in sales was challenging for Buck because he had enjoyed growing grass for more than a decade. But now he embraces his role helping others.
“You’re going from one locked-in scenario to five to eight different scenarios a day multiplied by five days a week,” he said. “You just give them the best information you can and you know it’s all in their hands at that point. You are there to be a voice and a sounding board.”
Buck’s sales territory stretches from Central Park to Washington, D.C., and west to central Pennsylvania; and his clients include sports field and golf course managers, as well as a growing portfolio of lawn care companies.
“It’s about trying to stay ahead of the curve and looking for opportunities as well,” he said. “If you’re driving down the road and you see a lawn care business, you pull in, introduce yourself, and hand out your business cards like candy. Get your name out there, get the company’s name out there, and be a source of solutions for folks.”
One of the biggest challenges Buck has faced in his career is that he is colorblind.
“A lot of a lot of our day-to-day depends on assessing the health of turfgrass – drought stress, mower injury, disease, etc. And there are a lot of indicators that present early as different colors. It’s frustrating because I physically can’t see it,” he said. “I’m the first one to say that I am terrible at spotting drought stress because I just can’t see the turf turning. A lot of it is leaning on the crew, having people around me, and explaining what they need to look for and how we can best prepare for things like that.”
As a sports field manager, Buck enjoyed the peacefulness of quiet days – especially during the summer months when he would arrive early on a Saturday morning to mow with no one else around.
“And I’m a big soccer fan, so every aspect of being in and around soccer every day – that’s what I live and breathe,” he said. “Just being around the game was a high point for me.”
Buck’s favorite part of his new role is sharing advice that worked for him.
“Every situation is different, so you don’t know if it will translate 100% to what they’re doing,” he said. “But whenever you give good advice and you get pictures back or clients reach out to say that your recommendations worked is what makes it all worth it.”
In addition to helping his clients, Buck enjoys helping others in the industry through service to the Keystone Athletic Field Managers Organization (KAFMO) and national SFMA (Buck currently serves on the SFMA Editorial Committee).
“I want to be useful to the industry that’s given me a whole career,” said Buck. “It means something to be able to help out, be with like-minded people and talk shop. We all want to see this industry get better.”
Buck’s advice to others, especially students, is to move around – either through internships or jobs – to find best place, best sport, best level of play or best facility for you. Then, once you get your foot in the door, give 100% effort.
“It’s a hard job. It’s not fun to work outside when it’s pouring rain and you have to pull a tarp, or when it’s 5 degrees outside snowing sideways and you’re the only person at the facility,” he said. “But then there are those days where it’s just the best. It’s a labor of love, but the industry accepts and rewards people who show up every day and give 100% effort.”
When he’s not at work, and not playing or watching soccer, C.J. Buck is busy being husband to his high school sweetheart, Brittany, and father to his daughter, June, who was born in February of 2024.
“She’s walking and talking and able to start playing around and have a good time,” he said. “We also have three dalmatians – Tyson, Rebel and Cora. We don’t like a calm house. I enjoy fishing, running and being outdoors. And I enjoy a nice nap on the couch with soccer on in the background.”
Being selected as a SportsField Management Rising Star “means everything” to Buck.
“There are lonely tasks, lonely days on the job, but it always comes back to being part of a grounds crew,” he said. “It’s a crew of people, so it’s not any one person who has ever truly earned the spotlight on their own. It’s always the effort of multiple people. Now it’s a bit different for me being in sales, but still being thought of in this regard by folks who are doing the same thing I was doing fills me with more pride than I can express.”
Buck added that he never won a Field of the Year award or other accolades, but takes pride in seeing his former interns and assistants go on to achieve bigger roles in the sports field management industry. He has had former assistants or interns go on to head groundskeeping jobs in Saint Louis, Orlando and Nebraska, as well as a former assistant now running his own landscaping company.
Said Buck, “That is better than any award I could receive, and it really makes me proud.”
What their nominator had to say:
C.J. has worked tremendously hard to serve this industry and move it forward. He has mentored students and serves his local chapter and SFMA. He has shown strong leadership while creating new opportunities for himself and the sports field managers in his region. He’s not one to seek attention, but is deserving of this award because of his passion for the industry.
Editor’s Note: SportsFieldManagementOnline.com will profile each of this year’s Rising Star Award winners online so that each winner is highlighted in our featured spot on the site. You can also read about all of this year’s winners in the October issue of SportsField Management.
Special thanks to STEC Equipment for sponsoring the Rising Star Awards.
