For the past six years, the Super-Scratch Foundation has been assisting the next generation of turfgrass managers prepare for their careers by helping defray the cost of a college education.
To date, the foundation has raised more than $300,000 for turfgrass scholarships through a combination of superintendent-amateur golf tournaments and corporate sponsorships. Funds are sent directly to selected college turf management programs to be distributed to students exhibiting financial need.
Two years ago, the foundation initiated another scholarship to help a student in the turf management program at Delaware Valley University who was facing an especially challenging time.
Named in honor of Grady Breuer, the son of golf course superintendent Michael Breuer and wife Jenna, the Grady Strong Scholarship is returning this year after a one-year hiatus.
Grady Breuer was born in 2020 with a rare heart condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome where the left ventricle is too small to be effective, or might not function at all. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the condition affects about 1 in 4,000 births.
Despite several open heart surgery procedures, the first coming when he was just three days old, Grady died April 30, 2023 at age 2.
“I watched (Grady’s) story for two years, and it really put life into perspective,” said Scott Bordner, director of agronomy at the Union League of Philadelphia and vice president of the Super-Scratch Foundation. “He didn’t have the easiest path. That resonates with a lot of people, and we wanted to help a student in need who showed the same kind of courage.”
With support from Harrell’s, this year’s scholarship award has doubled from $2,500 to $5,000.
“We are still working on the details,” said Super-Scratch director Brian Laurent. “Part of the criteria on which we pick a recipient will be someone who epitomizes Grady’s legacy of courage and strength.”
Tim Fritzinger, then a student in the turf management program at Delaware Valley and an intern under Bordner at Union League Golf Club at Torresdale, was the recipient of the inaugural Grady Strong award in 2024. Fritzinger was chosen as a special case as a student in acute financial need after the death of his father, Jason Fritzinger, in October 2023.
“He was in his third year (at Delaware Valley) and was at a crossroads,” Bordner said. “He was worried if he would be able to finish school.”
As the number of golf courses across the U.S. has declined during the past 20 years, university turf programs also have gotten smaller with some vanishing entirely. The Super-Scratch Foundation was founded in 2020 at Huntingdon Valley (PA) Country Club to help those in need and who are serious about pursuing a career in turf management.
“We have good kids in golf who want to stay in golf,” Bordner said. “We have to help them do that.”
Applications for this year’s scholarship will open in summer with the recipient announced in the fall.
