2010 Joe Motz Buckeye Sports Turf Student of the Year

Congratulations to Robbie Dworkin, recipient of the 2010 Joe Motz Buckeye Sports Turf Student of the Year.  This award is given in honor of Joe Motz, sports turf entrepreneur.

At the sports turf short course last week, the recipient of the “2010 Joe Motz Buckeye Sports Turf Student of the Year” was announced. The award is given in honor of sports turf entrepreneur Joe Motz, 1977 graduate of The Ohio State University.  Mr. Motz went on to build a very successful sports turf construction company based in Cincinnati Ohio, The Motz Group. In addition to his business success, Joe plays an active role in the green industry and serves in many capacities at The Ohio State University. He supports this award with a plaque and monetary gift for the student. 

The recipient in 2010 was Robbie Dworkin (left), who received his award from Zach Burns of The Motz Group. Robbie is a sports turf grass science major at The Ohio State University.  He expects to graduate later this year. His sports turf work experience has been at Columbus Crew Stadium, Great American Ballpark, The OTF Turf grass Research Facility, and OSU Athletics. He is currently the Turf Club President. 

Robbie is the epitome of “going the extra yard”, whether it’s helping out in class, working extra time to get the job done, or gathering up the students to raise money for the sports turf club. When he was working at Columbus Crew Stadium, he came after work to help with a night class when the students were renovating a local high school baseball field with sports turf. When he was interning at the Cincinnati Reds and the team was out of town, he took time to come back to Columbus and help build a sand-based field at the research plots. He didn’t expect payment or gratitude, that’s just the kind of person he is. We have no doubt that Robbie will go on to be a revered and successful sports turf manager and he’ll get involved with the sports turf industry and associations. In addition, he’ll have a “pay-it-forward” attitude with students and young professionals. In essence, Robbie loves the sports turf industry and is one of the most hard working, humble and therefore deserving people we know.



Previous recipients of the Joe Motz sports turf award include:



2009 ~ Joe Kirschner (Cincinnati Reds) & Jeff Boll (Loyola Marymount 
University - Los Angeles, California)

2008 ~ Chris Fox (Columbus Crew)

2007 ~ Russell Horn (Cleveland Browns)

2006 ~ Wes Appelfeller (Boston Red Sox)

2005 ~ Erica Titus (Nottingham Equestrian Center- Michigan) and Rodney Bockrath (OSU Intramural Sports)