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 From the News Desk...Hard lessons help mold Magroby John ReitmanWhen Carmen Magro, CGCS, was growing up in the suburbs northwest of Philadelphia, golf was a game for the well-heeled, and golf clubs – at least in his neighborhood – were more likely to be used to strike other people than golf balls. “When I was a kid, a golf club was a weapon,” Magro said. “When you came out of your house, you had to know how to take care of yourself.” Such is life growing up in Philadelphia’s working class Manayunk neighborhood and spending your 11th birthday at your father’s funeral and burying your mother when you’re 19. Although the early path through Magro’s life is marked in part by personal hardship, his parents left indelible impressions on him. His father, Carmelo, instilled in him the values of hard work and respect. His mother, Rose, was the supportive, nurturing type and fostered in him a love for music, and showed him how important it is to be passionate in one’s life work. Magro, 42, has carried those lessons through his personal exploits as a musician and throughout his many professional experiences. His career has included working as a superintendent and later at Penn State, where he was an instructor and followed the late George Hamilton, Ph.D., as administrator of the school’s two-year turfgrass program. He transitioned to the vendor side of the industry, first as an agronomist for Memphis, Tenn.-based Floratine and currently as vice president of agronomy for Advanced Sensor Technologies, a Philly-area manufacturer of wireless soil-monitoring systems. In fact, he learned early on – specifically during Little League baseball – that a lack of passion for one’s undertakings can have painful ramifications. “My dad was the nicest man in the world,” Magro, now 42, said. “He would take all the neighborhood kids to the pool. It was not uncommon to go swimming with 20-some kids from the neighborhood. As nice as my dad was, he demanded things be done in a certain way. “When I told him I wanted to play baseball, he smirked and said ‘you think you know what it takes to play?’ At my first practice, I got nailed in the eye on a ground ball that took a crazy bounce. He takes me out in the yard and starts hitting balls at me. I was getting drilled. I realized that if I don’t start catching these things I could die right in my yard.” The lesson was simple. “I finally caught (the ball), and he put his arm around me and told me that you can have all the tools in the world, but until you have the head and the heart for anything you do you’re not going to be successful. That quickly he could go from stern to caring. That’s also how damn scared I was of him.” “I realized that if I don’t start catching these things I could die right in my yard.”Magro also recalled a time as a youngster when he snapped off a smart-aleck remark to his mother, calling her by her first name. His 5-foot-9-inch father, a veteran of World War II who died of a brain aneurysm at age 57, was standing behind the door and surprised him with shot across the seat of his pants. “I flew across the room. I’ll never forget that,” he said. “He taught me disciplinary skills, but I didn’t get to know him enough.” The story also is reflective of how effective his parents were at preparing him for life after they were gone. Although he no longer has to rely on toughness to survive the streets of Philadelphia, Magro has approached his career with the same dogged determination of a survivor. Each career stop has allowed Magro to fulfill a basic tenet of his professional outlook. “My goal is to positively influence the industry to benefit everyone,” Magro said. “To share knowledge with the world is everyone’s dream. It’s why artists hope their work is picked up and exhibited in a museum.” Although his experiences have included virtually all ends of the turfgrass maintenance business, Magro still considers himself a superintendent first. Despite his experiences at Penn State as an instructor and administrator, he never completed work toward earning a doctorate degree. “I’m glad I didn’t. It keeps me open-minded and feeling like a student,” he said. “I approach everything I do as a student. “In fact, I still consider myself a superintendent first.” His introduction to golf was a bit unorthodox, however. Magro was studying business at Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science – now Philadelphia University – from 1988-90 when his curiosity was piqued by a neighbor walking past his home each day on his way to work. Finally, he stopped his neighbor one day and asked where he worked. The man told him about his job on the crew at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, and Magro, needing extra money at the time, was intrigued at the prospects of working outside rather than in an office cubicle. Eventually he approached superintendent Tony Gustaitis about a position, sheepishly admitting he knew little to nothing about “landscaping.” “He laughed at me and said ‘this isn’t landscaping,’ ” Magro said. “I was thrown into the fire that first week. They were punching holes in all the greens. I thought they were mad men.” Thanks to what he learned from Carmelo and Rose, Magro advanced quickly. Hired in 1992 as a part-timer on the crew, Magro was working full time within three months and was named as assistant mechanic and also was in charge of maintaining the practice facility. “It started growing on me,” he said. “This was real science. It made sense; you put air and water into the soil and something happens.” Magro continued on Gustaitis’ crew for six years, earning a degree in turfgrass science from Penn State in the process. He moved on as superintendent of Bidermann Golf Club in Wilmington, Del., from 2000-04 before taking positions at Penn State, Floratine and eventually AST. “Call it divine intervention or whatever you want, but all of a sudden I knew how to play that damn piano.”If he didn’t have that experience as a superintendent, Magro questions whether he would be able to influence the industry to the best of his ability. “I’m happy I was a superintendent first. The one thing it teaches you is to do whatever it takes to get the job done,” he said. “If you don’t do that, it’s a ticking time bomb. Something is going to come up and bite you in the ass because you’re not able to deal with it. But it’s not only getting it done, it’s how you get it done. In my first job, I fired more people than I hired. I didn’t put up with any (expletive deleted). You have to show them the light. “As a superintendent, I videotaped two guys under a tree smoking. I showed them 23 minutes of videotape. One of them got up and left. He quit right there and never came back. The other one stayed. I came from a world where you don’t wait; you do it, and you do it now.” That philosophy has helped Magro stay ahead of the curve in an industry that often exhibits little loyalty both from employee and employer. He employed the same “tough love” he showed as a superintendent when he moved on to Penn State where he was an instructor at Penn State, as well as director of the school’s two-year turf program and coordinator of the Joseph Valentine Research Center. He recalled a day when he and associate professor Andrew McNitt, Ph.D., stood on a test plot at the Valentine Center. Magro had just instructed his students to eliminate weeds from a section of the plot. The group proceeded to track Roundup everywhere, including through desired turf. “(McNitt) asked me if I was going to do anything about it. I told him I’d let them find out the hard way,” Magro said. “I brought the class out a week later and showed them their dead footprints.” In the end, students appreciated his approach, viewing him not only as an instructor, but as someone to whom they could look to for help and support outside the classroom. “I was not only an educational advisor, but someone who helped students with real-world problems, such as pregnant girlfriends, roommates with drug problems,” Magro said. “No one prepares you for that. Well, parenting does, and you almost have to treat your students like your own child. To this day, he says he continues to receive telephone calls from students seeking everything from personal advice to a professional reference. “Carmen brought enthusiasm and fresh ideas to the program,” said Penn State professor Al Turgeon, Ph.D. “But other opportunities beckoned, and he moved on.” Even dedication and enthusiasm for one’s life’s work must be tempered, confesses Magro, a divorced father of two. His family is a subject about which he divulges little. “Part of why my marriage failed is that I worked so hard trying to make people happy and being the best at what I do. A career is almost like having a mistress,” he said. “Passion is one step away from insanity; you can go crazy about it, and if you go crazy you’ve gone one step too far. “I was always pushing the limits and that was tough for my family.” After all, he was taught to push himself. A member of a garage rock band at age 14, Magro credits his mother for his musical gift. He learned of his mother’s breast cancer less than three weeks before her death. A member of her church choir, she implored her son to take up the piano. Smitten with the drums instead, Magro sat down at a piano for the very first time and began to play without the benefit of a single lesson. “First, Carmen is extremely passionate about his work and unbelievably focused on trying to achieve perfection within our world of turn raw data into valuable information.”“Call it divine intervention or whatever you want, but all of a sudden I knew how to play that damn piano,” he said. “Now I play it and write music.” Such a desire for lifelong learning has fueled his success with Floratine and AST. “First, Carmen is extremely passionate about his work and unbelievably focused on trying to achieve perfection within our world of turning raw data into valuable information,” said Walt Norley, president and chief executive officer of Advanced Sensor Technology. “Some great characteristics that help Carmen succeed in the business world is that he is curious to learn more (he's taking MBA classes) about soil science and the inner workings of building a business. He is willing to take risks and in doing so is open minded to evolving his methods within new environments. Lastly, Carmen has great communication skills both verbally and written which enable him to work with people in many aspects of our business world.” Introduced to AST’s wireless technology by Matt Shaffer, Merion Golf Club’s director of golf course operations. He has since been sold on the company’s technology and what it could mean for superintendents that he constantly works with AST’s programmers to improve the practicality of how the data is transmitted to the end user. “Superintendents don’t have time to stand in front of a computer screen,” he said. “They need to be able to use it.” Being successful in his new venture involves not only working with engineers on highly technical information; it also means lifelong learning. “I’m still studying today,” he said. “Every job should go two ways. There should be something in it for both sides, or what is the point?” |
 In other news... Greens of envy Olympic Club members and 2012 U.S. Open reap benefits of converting from Poa annua to bentgrass. Posted: 11/19/2009 Read more » News and people briefs Register now for New England turf show, Toro introduces walk-behind trencher, Sipcam adds to sales staff Posted: 11/19/2009 Read more » A better divot digger Motorized device developed at the University of Arkansas produces uniform damage quickly and could help advance turf recovery research. Posted: 11/19/2009 Read more » Currier moving on from Bethpage Site of this year's U.S. Open to get new superintendent and 15th green. Posted: 11/18/2009 Read more » Economic struggles mean finding more fat to trim Superintendents look for ways to cut due to shrinking budgets. Posted: 11/16/2009 Read more » Complete news index »
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