WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — George Toma was forced into the workforce over eight decades ago. The son of a coal miner, his father died when he was 10, but he didn't go to work in the mines. Instead, he became a groundskeeper. That was in 1942. The rest, as they say, is history.
Now 93 years old, Toma has great nicknames like "The God of Sod" and "The Sod Father." He doesn't come home to Luzerne County often, but he did this weekend to be honored as part of the Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame's Class of 2022.
Toma is kind of a sports legend on many fields, but not for playing on them. The Luzerne County native is one of the most famous groundskeepers in the world, from the World Cup to the World Series, the Olympics Game to, most famously, every Super Bowl ever played.
"Doing the Super Bowls is something great, from one to 56," Toma told Newswatch 16. "For my 50th Super Bowl, this is my hat that I wore at the 50th Super Bowl and my name tag on my Super Bowl hat. It says 'George Toma: Edwardsville, Pennsylvania.'"
His hometown.
Toma left Northeast Pennsylvania nearly seven decades ago, but Sunday, the 93-year-old was back where it all began to be inducted into the Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame. Hall of Fames are nothing new for Toma. He's in five others already, but this one hits close to home.
"I'm in a lot of hall of fames, but this is an outstanding one, and it's an honor to come back here and be inducted in this hall of fame because I've been away from this area for 67 years, but this is still my home town," Toma said.
This is why Sunday night is so special, not just for him and his fellow inductees, but for everyone back home, along for the ride.
"Every Super Bowl I have done or Olympics or World Cup soccer, every blade of grass that I took care of, whether it was natural or artificial, the people of this beautiful Wyoming Valley, their fingerprints are on every blade of grass and then some," Toma poetically said. "This is my home: the valley with a heart."
Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2022:
- Dr. Pamela Yanora Hughes
- Edward Kopec Jr.
- Shelley Black Leap
- Megan Krebs Kriso
- Amy Mantush Filanowski
- Linda Messner
- Tim McGinley
- Rosalyn Polacek
- Joshua Richmond
- Brea Lynn Seabrook
- Chris Shovlin
- Chuck Suppon
- George Toma
- Dr. Gary Verazin
On Monday, Aug. 8, Toma stopped by Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre to check out a section that is in consideration for the future site of the Toma Terrace.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame Sunday night.
WATCH: In the video below, Swoyersville native George Toma prepares for his 55th consecutive NFL Championship as the Head Groundskeeper.