TTA Me mber Spo tlight on
Bill Blackburn Tom Samples Professional of the Year Recipient
Mr.
Bill Blackburn, General Manager of Tennessee Business at Smith Turf & Irrigation received the high honor of being named the recipient of the 2018 Tom Samples Professional of the Year Award. He accepted this award at the TTA Conference in Murfreesboro on January 8th. This award recognizes an individual who has shown outstanding devotion of time, talent and energy to the turfgrass industry. It is named after Dr. Tom Samples, who has devoted his time and career to the turfgrass industry. Dr. Samples has been a professor at the University of Tennessee for 30-plus years, working predominantly in extension. His efforts have touched countless individuals working in golf, sports turf, sod production and lawn care in all of Tennessee’s 95 counties. We sat down with Bill to learn about his success in the industry, his background, and one unfortunate (but a little funny) incident in irrigation.
Tennessee Turfgrass Magazine: We need to know about your long and illustrious career and how you came to be honored with this award. Let’s start at the beginning. Tell us a little bit about how you got started in the industry. Bill Blackburn: I’ll be glad to. I guess in high school, I wanted to teach and coach
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TENNESSEE TURFGRASS
through my education. After an injury in high school, I gravitated a little more towards golf and enjoyed working at the little golf course at Carnton Country Club in Franklin, where I grew up. During my junior and senior year in college at Middle Tennessee State University, I had the opportunity to be the manager of a course in Murfreesboro, where Indian Hills is now, at a little course there called Fox Run Golf Course. Right after college I had the opportunity to come back to the little club in Franklin as Director of Golf and Assistant General Manager. Two or three years after that, I wanted to really broaden that and either wanted
to sell turf maintenance equipment or be involved in the golf side of it with the apparel and soft goods. An opportunity was available, but it would’ve required a move, and I just did not want to leave my roots, and I didn’t. But an opportunity in the turfgrass industry in 1985 did present itself. So I guess something like 30, 34 years ago, I began selling equipment. My territory was eastern Tennessee. I would leave on Sunday and get in the territory, the Knoxville, Kingsport, TriCities area, a little bit of Virginia. From there, I came back to Middle Tennessee and worked this area as an outside salesperson for distribution, and after about
Bill Blackburn accepts the Tom Samples Professional of the Year award at the TTA Conference.
