One does not last 32 years in the same job without doing something right.
Jim Husting, CGCS, developed a reputation for producing some of the best Poa annua greens in California's Central Valley during a 32-year run at Woodbridge Golf and Country Club in Lodi. That is no small feat in an area where summer temperatures often can top 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Husting (right), who retired from Woodbridge in 2019 after more than three decades as the club's superintendent, died Dec. 20 after battling pancreatic cancer.
"I just talked to him last week, and he told me he was in Hospice," said Corey Eastwood, CGCS, a retired superintendent who gave Husting his first job in the golf industry in 1983 at Green Hills Golf and Country Club in Millbrae, California. "He was upbeat and positive."
In a 2019 TurfNet Living Legends podcast (below), Husting said communicating with the pro shop and maintaining a relationship with the membership helped him be successful during his career at Woodbridge.
Husting was a past president of three GCSAA chapters (California, Sierra Nevada and Northern California) and served as an adjunct professor of horticulture, and turf and landscape maintenance at San Joaquin Delta College for 15 years. He also played an active role in advancing the profession and fellow superintendents by serving as government relations director for the NorCal association from 1997 to 2010.
"He was a pillar of the industry in this area," said Lou Silveira, a former assistant to Husting at Woodbridge and now the club's head superintendent.
When Woodbridge had an opening for an assistant in 1998, Silveira knew immediately after his interview that it was where he wanted to be.
"When I came here, I saw Jim had a presence in the industry," Silveira said. "He was a go-getter. He was spunky. He was known as the 'Poa dude' because he grew it better than anyone else in the Central Valley. I knew right away he was the person I wanted to mentor me."
Husting came to California in the early 1980s after earning a bachelor's degree in Latin American studies in 1976 from Kent State University in Ohio. After discovering he could earn a living working outdoors on a golf course, he earned a technical degree in turfgrass management from Cal Poly in 1983.
Eastwood and Husting both were interviewing at Green Hills at about the same time in 1983 — Eastwood for the open superintendent's position and Husting for assistant.
"He and I started at the same time at Green Hills," Eastwood said. "I was interviewing with the GM and they told me they'd already been talking to Jim. The GM said 'We really like him. Look him over, and see what you think.' He did a great job here.
"It was almost a second career for him. He'd gotten his degree at Kent State, then he jumped in his Volkswagen and came west. He didn't want to teach, and he went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to get a degree in turf management."
In all those years at Woodbridge, I don't think he ever lost a blade of grass. He had the best Poa greens I'd ever seen. I don't know how he kept those damn things alive. That's a miracle out here.
By 1987, Husting moved on to Woodbridge as head superintendent where he remained for 32 years until his retirement in 2019. By then, Husting already had been teaching remotely at San Joaquin Delta for a decade.
"In all those years at Woodbridge, I don't think he ever lost a blade of grass," Eastwood said. "He had the best Poa greens I'd ever seen. I don't know how he kept those damn things alive. That's a miracle out here."
Two years after retiring, Husting moved to Camano Island, Washington, a 40-square-mile strip of land on the eastern end of Puget Sound. There he became active in and served on the board of directors of Sound Water Stewards, an environmental advocacy group comprised of trained volunteers working in and around Island County, Washington "for a healthy, sustainable marine environment through education, science and stewardship," according to the group's web site.
Husting hired Silveira as his assistant at 27-hole Woodbridge in 1998. By 2003, Silveira moved on to multiple opportunities as a head superintendent, including stops at Brookside Golf and Country Club in Stockton and The Club at Castleton in Pleasanton.
Husting prepped him well to go off on his own.
"Whenever I took the weekend off when I was his assistant, I'd come back in and my desk would be covered in Post-It Notes from Jim about things I missed," Silveira said. "My last day working for him, I came in and there was one Post-It Note in the corner of my desk. It said 'You'll do great' and 'Go check the station on 27.' "
Silveira returned to Woodbridge in 2023, this time as head superintendent. On his first day back at Woodbridge, Silveira received a call from Husting who offered his congratulations, but also to tell him he had cancer.
When he learned of his mentor's death, the news hit Silveira hard.
"I took the weekend to soak it in," Silveira said. "When I came in on Monday and sat at the same desk he had used for all those years, it was very emotional. Jim molded my career."
Peter McCormick, TurfNet founder, remembers Husting from his attendance at the TurfNet Beer & Pretzels Gala events at GIS for many years, and for sporting a Jackson Browne-ish hair style.
"Jim was a TurfNet member for a very long time, one of the first superintendents in California to sign on, as I recall," McCormick said. 'He was very active on our Forum and I got to know him from that. Being on opposite coasts, however, the only times we saw each other face to face was at the Beer and Pretzels events. He usually brought his wife and two young kids with him. They would come up to me at the end of the night so the kids could shake my hand and say thank you. That said a lot. Jim was a great guy."
Survivors include daughter Erica of Boston and son Harrison (Marissa) of Portland, Oregon.
