For parts of five decades, Pete Cookingham has been the public face of the world's largest collection of publicly available turfgrass research. That face is about to change.
Cookingham, the director of Michigan State University's Turfgrass Information Center and the digital Turfgrass Information File since 1985, will retire to the great outdoors Sept. 3.
"I'm an outside person, and I don't get outside much," Cookingham said. "It's time to get back outside."
The Center, which was started by the late Jim Beard, Ph.D., is a repository for all things turf, including research studies, articles and anything else published on fine turfgrass that Cookingham can find. It also includes information from the private collections of Beard himself and O.J. Noer.
Part II of the Beard's private collection recently was added to the Center, which is located in the university's main library. Through an accord with the USGA, the Center converts all published works into a digital format, making all materials available to turfgrass managers, academics and researchers around the world. As paper documents are digitized, nothing is thrown out. The number of physical volumes on hand in the Center is overwhelming, weighing in at about 40 tons.
"For 30-plus years, the Turfgrass Information File has been the information superhighway for researchers, students, golf course superintendents, architects, manufacturers and simply everyone involved in the turfgrass industry," said Kim Erusha, Ph.D., who spent nearly 30 years with the USGA Green Section, including nine as managing director. "Led by a significant amount of financial support made possible by the USGA, Pete Cookingham and his staff and student workers created and developed the online platform to make available turfgrass scientific and popular content worldwide. With easier access to the turfgrass archives, researchers were able to conduct more thorough searches as they developed their research programs, building upon past research accomplishments, and advancing more focused progress. The results are the improved grasses, management techniques and conditioning enjoyed today."
Although much of what is cataloged in TGIF now already is in digital format, the task of digitizing published texts is a never-ending task that makes virtually all turfgrass research available to users from Bloomfield Hills to Bangkok and everywhere in between.
"One of the first things I did after starting the Asian Turfgrass Center and moving to Thailand was purchase a lifetime subscription to the TGIF." said ATC director Micah Woods, Ph.D. "Having all this information available, no matter where I am in the world, has been incredibly useful. I use the service all the time."
The contributions of TGIF and Cookingham to the turfgrass management trade have been such that he was the recipient of the 2005 USGA Green Section Award, given annually to someone for "distinguished service to the game of golf through his or her work with turfgrass, including research, maintenance and other areas that positively impact the landscape upon which golf is played."
The very mission of the award fits Cookingham perfectly, Erusha said.
"The unsung heroes are those who always show up, are unselfish and focused on their work," she said. "They conquer the challenges many know nothing about. When you consider the impact of Pete Cookingham's career, I put him in that hero category."
For years, the information behind the TGIF walls has been password protected. The log-in process is now public, and soon will be open-access.
The unsung heroes are those who always show up, are unselfish and focused on their work," she said. "They conquer the challenges many know nothing about. When you consider the impact of Pete Cookingham's career, I put him in that hero category.
Cookingham graduated from the University of Wyoming with a degree in recreation and park administration, was the general manager of an 1,800-acre property owners association in rural central Illinois and later was a park administrator in Africa for the Peace Corps. He has headed the MSU turf library since 1985, when he graduated from the University of Illinois with a master's in library science.
It is the only job he has coveted in the past 36 years.
"I am still working at the same job I was hired for 36 years ago," he said. "I told them I didn't want to be promoted, told to do something else or pushed into administration. I wasn't interested. If I stayed here, I was here to do this job and this job only, and that was it."
Now, it's time to move on, said Cookingham, who spends his free time in outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, canoeing, kayaking and landscaping.
"I'm a parks person. My real world is parks," he said. "It's time for me to get back outside."
