
Universally regarded as the best groundskeeper in sports, Toma earned his nicknames of the 'Nitty-Gritty Dirt Man' and the 'Sultan of Sod' in his adopted home of Kansas City. He arrived in 1957 as head groundskeeper for the Athletics and made his name transforming Municipal Stadium's notoriously poor field into one of baseball's best. Toma later oversaw fields for the Royals and Chiefs at Municipal, Royals and Arrowhead Stadiums. His NFL work, beginning with Super Bowl I, earned him the Professional Football Hall of Fame's 2001 Pioneer Award. He joined his mentor, Emil Bossard, as the first inductees into the MLB Groundskeeper Association Hall of Fame in 2012.