It is only fitting that Joe Vargas' favorite song was the Elvis Presley version of "My Way."
Vargas' career in turfgrass academia at Michigan State University spanned more than a half-century and was marked by defying convention and going against many accepted methods and practices. Along the way, Vargas ruffled a lot of feathers, particularly among those who dismissed his methods and findings. But for every colleague, golf course superintendent and chemical company representative who questioned his methods, there were many more who became believers, especially after his research and peer-reviewed publications began to mount up. Cornell University professor Frank Rossi, Ph.D., said if there was a Mount Rushmore of turfgrass management "Joe Vargas would be on it."
Vargas, who earned degrees at Rhode Island (bachelor's), Oklahoma State (master's) and Minnesota (doctorate), died Thursday, April 18 after a long illness. He had been suffering from pancreatitis for several months.
"He did life his way," said Gordon LaFontaine, the longtime director of the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation and one of Vargas' best friends. "He changed things for many superintendents, and he definitely did it his way."
For decades, Vargas was one of the most influential, entertaining and sometimes polarizing figures in turfgrass management.
"He came out with ideas that were not popular, but were later proven to be true," Rossi said. "Along the way, he had to put up with a lot of personal attacks.".
Jesus Christ came back from the dead in three days, but that green isn't coming back.
A fan of Elvis, Vargas became as widely known for his impersonations and performances at turf conferences as he was for his expertise in turf. He was the recipient of the 2007 USGA Green Section Award, the Michigan State Distinguished Faculty award in 2019 and the GCSAA Distinguished Service award in 1997. He was inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame in 2016.
From his views on anthracnose 40 years ago and his philosophy on fungicide use and resistance for disease control to his Elvis impersonations, Vargas was known for carving his own path.
"When I found anthracnose killing annual bluegrass rather than heat alone, I thought this is going to be great, people are dumping tons of lead arsenic and calcium arsenate on fairways and greens" Vargas told Rossi in a 2018 episode of Frankly Speaking on TurfNet. "They're not going to have to do that, boy they're going to be so happy. Nobody was happy. 'Who's this young guy telling us it doesn't die in heat? We've known for 50 years it dies in heat. Who is this guy?' Oh my God."
In that interview, with Rossi, Vargas recalled being asked to speak at a Rhode Island turf conference years ago by the late URI professor Noel Jackson, Ph.D., who suggested he put together a presentation on the highlights of his career.
"As I put it together," Vargas recalled, "I realized my whole career was nothing but controversy."
While some in the industry sought to discredit Vargas and his work, his colleagues at Michigan State convinced him to stay the course.
They told him: " 'Joe, just do the research,'" Vargas said in the Frankly Speaking episode. ' "When you do the research, the truth will come out, and when it's published it will all go away.'
"It was really the superintendents who saved me. They were tired of fairways dying, greens dying, and they put fungicides out there."
In return, Vargas was devout in his dedication to helping superintendents.
"He always had the superintendent's back," LaFontaine said.
"He could never tell a club they should get rid of a superintendent no matter how much he screwed up."
Over the last half-century, LaFontaine spent as much time with Vargas as anyone, including endless miles on the road visiting golf courses at the behest of superintendents seeking advice on how to resurrect dead turf.
LaFontaine remembered one visit in particular.
"There was a green with dead turf, and I asked Joe if the grass was ever going to come back," LaFontaine said. "He told me 'Jesus Christ came back from the dead in three days, but this green isn't coming back.' "
During the early years of Vargas' MSU career, the pair would occasionally encounter a greenkeeper who balked at following Vargas' often unpopular advice.
"They'd say 'I don't have to listen to Vargas,' " LaFontaine said. "I told them, 'you're right, you don't have to listen to him, but the new guy who replaces you probably will.' "
When LaFontaine built his own Pine View Highlands Golf Course in Houghton Lake, Michigan, Vargas took one look at the layout and told him the greens on Nos. 17 and 18 would be dead by summer.
"He told me I didn't cut down enough trees," LaFontaine said. "By July 7, there I was cutting down more trees because the turf on those greens was dead."
Throughout his career, Vargas became best known for his controversial views on fungicide use.
"One thing that always used to make my blood boil was when I heard somebody finish a speech about fungicides and diseases they controlled and then youd get this: 'Don't forget to practice good resistance management by rotating different chemistries,' " Vargas said in the Rossi interview. "That needs to be banned, OK. It has not worked, and yet there are still people out there selling that, OK, so let this disappear from our vocabulary never to be spoken again — I hope."
LaFontaine said the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation was woefully underfunded when he took over as executive director. Meanwhile, as Vargas became a giant in turf academia and outreach, he became an invaluable resource in helping raise funds for research.
"With him out in the field, it became easy to raise money," LaFontaine said. "He really changed the world for people, and he did it his way."
Vargas was a sought-after expert around the globe.
LaFontaine recalls when the pair played softball together, and Vargas was pulled away when a limousine arrived at the field to take him to the airport to catch a flight to Saudi Arabia on a consulting visit.
"He mentored so many people who are where they are today because of him," LaFontaine said. "He left the world knowing he really helped a lot of people."
