He's never missed a home football game for over 30 years and he's getting ready to tackle the gridiron to battle his longtime rival ... Mother Nature.
Phil Clay, manager of physical education athletic grounds and facilities, does it all with his 20-person crew to prepare for football games. Mowing, painting, cleaning, handling requests and taking care of other facilities to make sure Homecoming runs smoothly.
Clay worked at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio beginning in 1971 before coming to Ball State, he said. Between the two universities, he said he never missed a home football game. The love of the outdoors appealed to him.
"My truck out here is my office. I have an office, but I'm not in it much," he said.
In addition to his love of the outdoors, Clay needs enough time around the field and grounds to prepare for each game.
"Working on the football field is really about a ten-month-a-year job," Clay said.
"Myself and all my guys, they take a lot of pride in what the field looks like what the field plays like," he said. "It's not just aesthetic but it's the quality of the turf that the players play on."
Clay said his crew starts to prepare the bluegrass field for Homecoming about two weeks prior to the game. He said his staff works hard to make every game great, but knows the game is special to people.
"We try to put forth the best product we can every football game, but we have a sense of Homecoming being what it is," Clay said.
"Many people may get a first impression of Ball State University or our community as they come here, and we want that to be positive and reflect highly on the university," Clay said.
Mark Foster, 38, who has worked for the department since 1991 said the crew's work is in plain view.
"Anyone that comes to the game has to see it," he said.
Although the process of maintaining the field is a year-long job, the crew will put in a big push for the Homecoming game, he said. The crew will put in 8-hour shifts and may work as much as 16 hours per day during Homecoming week to prep the field and the grounds, Foster said.
During the week of the game, Clay said his crew will start to paint the perimeter of the field and the grounds Monday and Tuesday then do the main painting Wednesday and Thursday.
In addition to grounds work, Clay said his crew handles requests for the 70 acres of outdoor fields including the tailgating area and the band practice field, and takes care of requests for vendor tents and trailers. Other workers clean the press box, ticket offices and the concourse, he said.
Friday is used as a touch-up day or a catch-up day if weather causes Clay to delay some of his work. With a chance of rain, Clay said he would turn to his favorite resource.
"My family tells me that I'm a Weather Channel junkie," he said. However, no matter the weather, Clay says he has to finish his job.
"I have to adapt in whatever way necessary to get it done. Obviously, it's not an option for me to not be done on Saturday for the game. So, I have to figure out a way to get it done. We have tarps we can use if we had to," he said.
Twice in the '90s Clay said he had to deal with snowstorms. One of the games he said his crew had to shovel snow out of the seating, the parking lots and plow the field the morning of the game. He said his crew is prepared with equipment incase it would snow.
"Obviously, some of your aesthetics go down the tube if you have to deal with snow, and you try to put forth the best product," he said.
During pre-game warm-ups, Clay said some patches on the field may be needed because some visiting teams tear up the fields from warm-ups, After that, his crew switches roles to event management.
"Once the game is going we're in pretty good shape," he said. "Our main job at that point is to make sure everybody's safe, having a good time and enjoying the day."
After the players walk off the field, Clays crew switch back to their role taking care of the field itself. With the help of student workers, his crew take a lawn sweeper across the field to clean up the field and pick up debris, he said.
The crew also takes a divot mix to fill holes in the field torn up by cleats, he said.
Thirty minutes of post-game work added to the weeks preparation doesn't give Clay much time to spend time with his three sons. Instead, they come to him and help out complete with their own badge and walkie.
"I can't say they wanna do it when they get older," he said.
Clay said he and his crew have received compliments from visiting teams about the appearance and condition of the football field, but without anything official to recognize the crew's accomplishments, Clay said he isn't bothered if his work goes unnoticed.
"We're a little bit like the umpire in baseball, or the game official," he said. "The more we go unnoticed, the more we must have done a good job."
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