THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 8, 1997 TAG: 9701080532
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 52 lines
The Green Bay Packers hadn't even wrapped up their victory against San Francisco in the NFC divisional playoff when the team began looking to repair the damage done to rain-soaked Lambeau Field.
At the other end of the phone, Richmond-based Duraturf Service Corp. was hesitant at first to take the job. But once it made sure all the logistics could be handled, it said OK - again.
Only three weeks earlier, Duraturf sodded Lambeau Field between the hash marks from one end zone to the other. The new turf held up fine for Green Bay's regular-season finale against Minnesota, but was a mess Saturday.
This time, the request was for an all-new playing field, and fast.
The Packers host the Carolina Panthers in Sunday's NFC championship game, and the NFL wanted the field in better shape than last week.
``Whatever the NFL asks for, we'll do,'' Cynthia Kidwell, who owns Duraturf with her husband, Jack, said Monday night.
By Sunday night, Duraturf and the league had agreed on a price. On Monday, workers were harvesting the sod at Summit Hall farm in Poolesville, Md., and sending it on the nearly 1,000-mile journey to Green Bay.
In all, 28 heated tractor-trailers were expected to make the trek, each carrying Kentucky bluegrass sod in strips 42 feet long and 42 inches wide.
It's a process Duraturf has grown accustomed to doing quickly.
For 24 years, Cynthia Kidwell said, the company has been re-sodding RFK Stadium in Washington each July.
It also re-sodded parts of Pro Player Stadium in Miami prior to the Carquest and Orange bowls.
Concerns have been raised about the weather in Wisconsin, where forecasts call for single-digit temperatures this weekend. But Mrs. Kidwell said the temperature won't matter as long as there is no additional moisture.
The field will be stripped of its old turf, then graded. ``You don't need that moisture to work with when you're trying to grade a field,'' she said.
Snow could pose another problem by slowing the delivery of the sod, she said.
But despite its image as frozen tundra, Lambeau is heated. That should resolve questions about whether the sod will have time to grab hold.
``The underground heating will promote the root growth,'' Mrs. Kidwell said.
The Packers have said they were happy with the job Duraturf did the first time, but Kidwell said there was a condition placed on their return.
``The director of the project in Green Bay . . . did request that Mr. Kidwell not wear his Redskins jacket out there this time,'' she said. ``We told them that wouldn't be a problem.''
KEYWORDS: GRASS