Chad Laurie Named Head Groundskeeper
Laurie will replace Dan Blank, who served as the club's head groundkeeper for three seasons. Blank is now the heads groundskeeper at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, NE, home of the College World Series.
Laurie, 25, has worked in the sports turf industry as a groundskeeper for six years, including the past two seasons as the head groundskeeper for the Single-A Dayton Dragons (Reds) of the Midwest League. From 2006-2008, Laurie served three seasons on the grounds crew of the Triple-A Louisville Bats. There, he helped prepare Louisville Slugger Field for the 2008 Triple-A All-Star Game.
Laurie also has experience in Major League Baseball, having worked at the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox spring training facility at Camelback Ranch, AZ in 2009, and the National Football League, having interned at Heinz Field with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2005.
Laurie, a native of Louisville, KY, graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Plant and Soil Science with an emphasis on Turfgrass Science. While at UK, he was a two-time recipient of the Kentucky Turfgrass Council Scholarship. Laurie has been a member of the National Sports Turf Managers Association since 2005.