GCSAA Podcast
The official podcast of the Golf Course Superintendent Association of America turns a spotlight on the stories of GCSAA's members and the vital role they play in the game of golf's overall success. The podcast is also a vehicle to showcase association products and services that can help members do their jobs better, faster and more cost-effectively.
GCSAA Podcast
62. Reflecting on a Legacy: A Journey Through Golf Management with Scott Hollister
This episode turns the tables on the longtime host of this podcast, Scott Hollister, as he prepares to depart GCSAA after 26 years on the job. Scott offers us a candid look into his long tenure with GCSAA and GCM , from the adrenaline of the 2000 U.S. Open to the solidarity felt during the industry's trials post-9/11. Alongside Howard Richman, Scott reminisces about the serendipitous turns and the cherished camaraderie that have punctuated his journey.
The GCSAA Podcast is presented in partnership with Envu.
Greetings all and welcome to another episode of the GCSAA podcast presented in partnership with Enview. I'm Scott Hollister, the editor-in-chief of GCSAA's Golf Course Management Magazine, and I'm glad you've dialed up what is episode 62 of the podcast. Happy to have you with us. So this episode is going to be a little bit different from the previous 61 that we've done because the guest for this one is well, it's me. This is all a little bit awkward but, as you may or may not know, I will be leaving GCSAA and GCM in mid-April after 26 really wonderful years with the association, to take on a new challenge leading a business publication in the lawn care and landscaping industry.
Speaker 1:It's all been a little bit overwhelming, definitely bittersweet, but the responses and well wishes that I've received from all over since this news became public have been really humbling, and among those it was one for my soon-to-be former boss, gcsaa CEO Rhett Evans, who asked if I'd be willing to do one final episode of this podcast. But instead of hosting, he wanted me to be the guest to talk about my time with GCM and GCSAA and my experiences from a quarter century in the golf business, and while it's all more than just a little embarrassing, I was happy to do it. So soon we'll be bringing on my longtime colleague and friend, howard Richman, to host this episode and interrogate me just a little bit as I prepare for what's next. Wish I could tell you more about what we talk about, but Howard's keeping that under wraps as I record this. So all I can say is that I will be your guest on episode 62 of the GCSA podcast, and we'll see what happens next.
Speaker 1:I do have to add one thing before we get going. I lied just a little when I said earlier this would be my last episode of the podcast. In reality, you're going to hear my voice a few more times in the coming months, even though I'll no longer be with GCSAA. Before I made this decision, I had a few podcast episodes in the works, so we went ahead and wrapped those up before my departure, and those will begin gradually hitting your podcast feed as we head into the summer months of 2024. So be on the lookout for those. With all that out of the way, guess I can't delay this any longer. This is episode 62 of the GCSAA podcast, featuring yours truly in conversation with GCM's own Howard Richman.
Speaker 2:Let's see where this goes conversation with GCM's own, howard Richman. Let's see where this goes. Hello everybody, welcome to the GCSA podcast. This is Howard Richman, associate Editor for GCM Magazine. Welcome to our show. It's a really special show, especially for me doing this. I feel honored to talk to our guest, who I know very well and you know very well, scott Hollister, editor-in-chief at GCM Magazine, who's about to embark on a new challenge in his life, in his career, and we're going to talk a little bit about his time at GCSA, which has been twice as long as I've been here. So I guess that makes that, would. You would think that would make me older than him, but uh, or not, maybe not Somehow.
Speaker 1:that's not, that's not accurate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm way older than well, not way older than Scott, but but older. But anyway, scott, thanks for being here. We appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thanks, Howard. Uh, yeah, it's a little, a little weird being on this side of the table for these, but I'm happy to do it, happy that GCSA wanted me to do it and look forward to reminiscing.
Speaker 2:Yes, definitely, definitely. Well, let's go back. You know I was thinking about this the other day. You and I have known each other since before. Either one of us worked at GCSAA or GC. Our days go back to being sports writers in the Kansas City area and getting to know each other that way, and then you kind of made a change in your life at that point. Talk a little bit about that and why you made that choice to move on to GCSAA and be here for 26 years now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was. So I was a sports writer for 10 years, three different publications, so I bounced around a little bit there. All of them and obviously you know some of this, but all of them relatively small daily newspapers. All of them relatively small daily newspapers. One was in Ottawa, kansas, circulation of about 10,000, kind of a rural community not far from Lawrence maybe, which is a suburban daily or was a suburban daily. You have to be careful when you're referring to daily newspapers now to get their current status. The Olathe Daily News does not currently publish anymore but was there for four years and, as you well know, howard, the newspaper business can be kind of grueling, howard, the newspaper business can be kind of grueling.
Speaker 1:I had some personal things that went on during that time and was looking for some more stability. You know you were fortunate, I think, at that time to work for the Kansas City Star which, as I said at that time, was a really stable publication and they've obviously, like almost every newspaper in the world, has gone through their challenges more recently. But those smaller dailies it was. You know it was a struggle. Hours were tough, you know. You're working nights, you know, because especially the last newspaper I was at was a morning, so we were up until late the opposite of superintendent hours, really of mourning. So we were up until late the opposite of superintendent hours, really.
Speaker 1:And the opportunity came open at GCSAA. I heard about it from a friend of yours and mine both, jeff Bollig, who I'm sure some listeners will remember from his long stint as a communications person for the association. But I ran into him somewhere. He mentioned that there was an opening on the magazine. Staff applied and was fortunate enough to get the job. And I said this before when I took the job I didn't really I liked what, I liked the magazine, I liked what I was doing, I really liked the industry. But I didn't have designs on a super long career with GCSAA. I figured it would be similar to my other stays and I do four or five years and something else would come up. And you know, the job developed and it never did. And here we are, 26 years later, way less hair now than I had back then.
Speaker 2:Well, we got to share something with getting into golf when I was at the Kansas City Star. I was there for a long time, but I didn't start covering golf until 1995, which was a great time. You started here a few years later at GCSAA, right when the golf boom was really getting going.
Speaker 2:I started covering golf when Tiger Woods came out. I thank my lucky stars for that, because it just opened up so many new possibilities and things to write about. And traveling with Tiger and you came in about the same time when you know this magazine was was really, you know, taken off at that point. So you were involved with that. What do you remember about those first few years and getting into the to the mix with it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was. It was a different time. Yeah, 98, march of 98 is when I started and you know there was a huge boom in golf thanks to Tiger, thanks to the economy was really booming. Courses were being constructed left and right, plentiful jobs for membership. So it was a great time to get into golf.
Speaker 1:And I remember about the magazine is that it was from a page count standpoint it was huge. We were doing routinely 200 plus page magazines every single month and I laugh about this sometimes with folks on staff and that we would have meetings. We had just like we do now. There were committees and task groups that made up of GCSA members who work with staff to guide decisions on various things from conference and show education to certification. But there was a mass communications task group and we would have meetings to talk about how big the magazine was getting and how difficult it was every month for readers to make their way through. But we had so many companies wanting to advertise in the book. I remember one January issue in particular, and it must have been 99 or 2000, where we were over 300 pages. It looked like a bridal magazine that you might see on the newsstand and it's funny.
Speaker 1:Now I think we all feel fortunate that GCM does as well as it does and that people continue to support the magazine. But we're averaging 100 to sometimes 120 pages an issue versus those old 300-page issues 120 pages an issue versus those old 300 page issues. So it was obviously a different time and the media consumption has changed as people's habits have changed. But you know, what hasn't changed, I think, over the years, is the support that we get from members and readers. They really do embrace what we do, not just in print but in. You know what we've done in the last four or five years and you know boosting the web presence of the magazine, our social media, this podcast, which is, you know, adjacent to the GCM properties as well. So we've always had really great support. I just think from a member standpoint it's probably a lot easier to consume now than it was back when I first started.
Speaker 2:When you got here, when you were the editor-in-chief, talk about your relationship with that person and other people around here. That kind of helped you kind of become indoctrinated into what you guys do here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, ed Hiscock was a longtime leader of our staff. I started in an associate editor position, after about a year moved up to a managing editor position which really suited some of my background from the newspapers when I led small sports departments, especially my last two stops, and you know there was there was a bigger staff than we have now but obviously we had a bigger magazine than we have now and Ed was. Ed was a great mentor in terms of allowing me to kind of explore the industry, learn about it, get out there, get my hands dirty a little bit with some of that, and that's really, even though I always drop the bad dad joke about knowing just enough to be dangerous when it comes to turf grass management. You know he did allow me to kind of get up to speed quickly on the industry by just getting out there and getting my hands dirty. I, you know, in 2000,. Um, and we may talk more about this later, but one of my, you know, one of my great memories and privileges was in 2000 being allowed to uh, go to Pebble Beach and serve as a volunteer on the maintenance crew for the 2000 US Open, as a volunteer on the maintenance crew for the 2000 U S open, one in decisive fashion by the previously mentioned tiger woods. Um, and that was. That was a pretty amazing experience for me. I was able to obviously see golf course management at a very high level for a very concentrated period of time. There were a number of people either volunteering at that event or on the full-time staff at Pebble Beach who have remained contacts and friends to this day. And you know, gosh, we're 20, you know 24 years ago when I made that trip in June of 2000. And so Ed was completely supportive. That was kind of outside the realm of what staff members had done previously. Um, and the whole idea was to write about it. Um, you come back, which I did, uh, did a feature story in the magazine on my experience. But, um, that was just the kind of leader that that Ed was and I learned a ton from him in terms of how to run a magazine, how to oversee staff, how to deal with customers, how to deal with readers. And you know, ed had a long presence with GCSA, went on to actually work for another industry mag for a little bit. So he's been around. I think listeners might know Ed. I know that he and his wife, pat, are happily retired down in Springfield Missouri right now, but I did. When news of my change came public, I did hear from Ed and had a good conversation and he meant a lot to my career.
Speaker 1:Terry Osmeyer, another name that folks might remember. Terry was, oddly, my first boss at my first newspaper, so he was the managing editor in Ottawa, kansas, when I first started. He left, worked for GC, actually went to GCSAA and GCM, worked for that magazine for a while. He and his wife moved to Estes Park, colorado. I started at GCSA and then later Ed and I had the opportunity to hire Terry back as a staff writer and he had to report to none other than me. So that was super weird, and I'm sure there are probably superintendents out there who maybe have had assistants come up the ranks, take other jobs and then circumstances or whatever turned the table on them later on, like happened to me. But, um, anyway, uh, both. Both of those folks were great supporters, great teachers, great examples for me, uh, for me to follow. So I just could not have really done any of what we've been able to do without the kind of lessons that I learned from them besides your, you know I talk about some of your highlights in your career.
Speaker 2:I want to do that a little bit. And besides hiring me for your staff, I was going to ask you a few things, but let me kind of kick that off with you. Were talking about 2000,. 2001. That brings me back to the anniversary, the 75 year anniversary for GSAA, which now, moving forward, they're getting ready for the 100-year. They're working feverishly on that for the 100-year in 2026, but go back to 2001, where you were here for that, when everything was. You had some big stuff planned for that. Talk a little bit about that and share that with people what that was like and what happened with it yeah, it was, uh, it was a wild time.
Speaker 1:Um, we did have huge plans in place. I mean, if people have kept, you know, if superintendents have been in the business long enough and have kept a bunch of old gcms, they can go back to the september 2001 uh issue and that was a 75th anniversary commemorative issue Big, big, giant issue. Some of my fondest memories are working on that and kind of coming up with the plans to do that, because the association was really focused on kind of blowing out the 75th anniversary. There was a big gala planned at Union Station, the big train station in Kansas City that had a big event space so folks were coming in from all over the country for that. We had a golf tournament planned. You know it was going to be a huge deal and I can't remember the exact date of the gala and that weekend but it fell directly after 9-11. And obviously that changed our plans a great deal. The event was ultimately canceled. The commemorative issue of GCM was already out and about. So that's still out there. But what I remember about that is there were already. It was close enough. It was literally within just a few days from when 9-11 happened to when the gala had been and all the activities had been scheduled and there were already certain members that were in in route to Kansas City and Lawrence for those, for those festivities. Some of them were driving, many of them were recently retired members, past presidents, who could take an extra day to spend some time in Lawrence before the golf tournament, before everything else happened, and instead they got stranded in Lawrence and we had folks who were, you know, hanging around the buildings, you know, just because they couldn't get home at that point. I know there were a handful of staff members who were traveling early part of that week before they headed back to be here for all the activities around the 75th, and then they had to make obviously alternate, uh arrangements to get themselves back home. But, um, I thought about that a little bit, my wife and I uh were able to uh do a kind of a long weekend in New York City earlier, uh, uh, earlier this year, um, actually right after conference and trade show a few weeks after that. So, uh, and we that, and we did the 9-11 memorial and museum and all that stuff, and it did bring me back to the things that I personally went through and the rest of the staff did as well. It was interesting.
Speaker 1:For folks who visit headquarters they might see displays. There's a display case that has just hundreds and hundreds of logoed golf balls from facilities all over the country. That program was a part of the 75th. We asked golf courses to send those in so we would have those as a commemorative. A commemorative, and then there was a giant flag that was. It was basically just this huge banner that was created out of golf course flags. Similarly, we asked golf courses to supply flags and those were all sewn together in this giant banner in the in 75 was spelled out in all the golf flags and it was obviously going to be unveiled during all of this and be a big part of it. And I think ultimately it made an appearance at a couple of conference and trade shows. And then I know during that week, the very end of that week, when it was just staff coming into the building, we unveiled it just off the side of the building and took some pictures so we could share with members who weren't going to have an opportunity to see it, and took some pictures so we could share with members who weren't going to have an opportunity to see it.
Speaker 1:But yeah, a lot of. It was obviously memorable for a number of different reasons, but specific to GCSA, yeah, it was kind of a seminal moment and I know that the 100th is going to really be cherished by a lot of people because we didn't get to properly celebrate that, that 70, 75th. So I know there'll be um, unfortunately, there's probably uh, members who who won't be, who won't be with us for the 100th, who could have been there at the 75th. But we'll remember all them and, I don't know, maybe I can finagle an invite to to pop back in now and again for the 100th, since I, you know, I knocked off a quarter century of that. So, you know, maybe I can, maybe I can get a little little small invite or something. We'll see.
Speaker 2:We're going to take a little break right now on the podcast.
Speaker 1:We'll be right back in a moment with Scott Hollister. We'll return to this episode in a minute, but now some words from Enview, a gold level GCSA partner committed to working with golf course superintendents to accomplish great things on the course every day. Enview is excited to announce that the company will be the exclusive manufacturer sponsor of fungicides, insecticides, herbicides and nematicides at the 2024 US Senior Open, june 24th through the 30th at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. Enview is proud to help superintendents ensure the greens, tees and fairways are at peak health and playability for the biggest events in the game. To learn more about agronomic solutions that can help protect your turf and keep it healthy when it matters most, contact your Enview representative or go to usenviewcom slash golf. Always read and follow label instructions and remember that not all products are registered in all states. Once again, our thanks to everyone at Enview for their support of the GCSA podcast. And now let's get back to this episode.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to the GCSA podcast with Scott Hollister, our guest today, kind of left off, talking about some memories I can't imagine how many you have. There's gallons of them Any things that stand out, funny, interesting, momentous, that you can remember whether you're in a tournament or a show or something that stand out, that just maybe even make you, you know, think, wow, that was really cool or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've said this a number of times. I think staff has heard me say this. As you well know, our boss, my current boss, who is right now in Nepal, in Kathmandu, getting ready to climb Mount Everest, but Red Evans likes to put us on the spot for one thing or another during all staff meetings and whatnot, and so periodically he's asked folks like myself in leadership roles with the organization to just talk about, especially around Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for, both personally and professionally? And I always bring up just the opportunities that this job has presented to me that I never, when I took the job I you know it would never even cross my mind that I'd be able to do and see some of the things I've been able to do in this job. You know it rises to the big, the majors that I've been able to attend. I've been to several masters, countless US Opens, pga Championships, ryder Cups. I have special memories of a lot of those. I mentioned the 2000 Open at Pebble Beach, getting to go back to Pebble Beach on numerous occasions for US Open, us Women's Open, the one there. That was a pretty awesome opportunity, you know. Obviously it's great getting to see fabulous golf courses like Pebble, like Oakmont like Oak Hill, but the real memories of those trips are the opportunities that it gives us as staff to interact with so many superintendents who are there either working on staff full-time or volunteering, and it's, it's just a great gathering spot and I've made so many good friends uh, getting the chance to to do stuff like that. Um been able to travel internationally uh do the uh the big uh turf management expo in harrogate on, I think, four different occasions. Our friends over at Bernhard invited me over on another trip to kind of visit their facilities, meet their people.
Speaker 1:No-transcript. Doing that, yes, it's, it's grueling, it's a lot of work, um, and when you do a monthly magazine it just never stops. You finish one, you're right into another. So you're, you're, you're really constantly um. I'm not telling you any, I'm not breaking any news to you, um, but you're one after another. But we've, we've always been able to uh, to have fun with it.
Speaker 1:I've been blessed to work with some awesome people uh over the over the years, um, who both work side by side with me. They worked for me in various capacities, um. But you know that that monthly grind always generates good memories and bad memories too, but mostly good memories, um, and then the then, and then you know our ability to to get out and and you know the many conference and trade shows that I've been able to work, um, and kind of mix those two together. So you've got the member side and kind of mix those two together. So you've got the member side and you have the staff side and some great memories of fun meals, fun experiences and just getting to see some awesome, awesome places.
Speaker 1:I mean, when it's February in Kansas City and your work tells you you need to go to San Diego or Orlando or wherever Vegas, new Orleans, san Antonio, now Phoenix, been to them all that's not a bad assignment to get. Yes, again, it's really. It's hard work and we're basically sun up to sundown at those events and going 100 miles an hour. But when you're doing it with good people for good people, um, it's, it's a little easier to manage, and so those are going to be the memories I take away, really that just those personal, uh, relationships that I've been able to build over the years, um, and some of the awesome places that the job has has taken me one of your stories that resonates with me, it has and it will forever is the.
Speaker 2:If you wouldn't mind sharing, is the the Bill Murray story, caddyshack Saturday.
Speaker 1:Night, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Bill Murray. I just, it just makes me smile, laugh every time I think about it. Tell us a little bit about how that all went down.
Speaker 1:Well, if I'd been, I could have found the voicemail on my. I have it in my Apple iTunes, my Apple Music. But so back to the 75th anniversary issue. We did a. Probably the anchor piece of that issue was we called it the 75 that mattered and basically it was a checklist of 75 people, places, things, innovations that had formed golf course management into what it was. So we had a section about people, we had a section about um equipment advances, we had a section on just notable uh events that took place in the 75 years since the association been founded, and one of those 75 things that mattered was caddyshack and basically we went back and forth on it because I back at that time there was a lot of debate back and forth whether superintendents liked the portrayal of Bill Murray.
Speaker 1:Obviously he's kind of a doofus portray, you know, in uh uh, in the role he plays in Caddyshack and uh um, and we acknowledged that. But we also acknowledged that for many people at the time that was their first or maybe only interaction with a greenkeeper and a superintendent. And so we wanted to use a photo from the movie of Carl Spackler and we reached out to the studio and they said oh well, mr Murray controls all of those things. You'll need to reach him to get permission to do that. And they gave us a phone number. So it was actually Ed Hiscock who I mentioned previously. He called, left a message and we never heard back and I think he maybe even left a second message just asking for permission. And I think most listeners know that Bill Murray claims to have a and he does have a little connection to our side of the business. He worked on a grounds crew for a bit when he was coming up, but obviously just as a diehard golfer, and we never heard back and we were coming up to deadline and we made the decision man, we've got to go, we don't have much time. And we decided to roll the dice and just roll this small little picture of Carl from Caddyshack in the magazine.
Speaker 1:And months after the magazine publishes, ed gets a voicemail and the voicemail is hey, ed, this is Bill Murray calling, and I'm obviously paraphrasing here, but he's like listen, I'm really sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. You guys can have my permission to use the photo. In fact, you can use really anything. He goes I was a superintendent once and then he pauses, he goes. Well, I wasn't really a superintendent, but I was a greenkeeper. Well, I wasn't really a greenkeeper, but I did work on a golf course for a while.
Speaker 1:It's kind of it goes on and on and on and then at the very end he goes anyway, you guys can do anything you know you want with my image or likeness. I, I support you guys 100%. I love superintendents and uh, anyway, uh, good luck with everything and have a great growing season. And then he hung up. So I don't know if he meant like our home yards, he wanted us to have a great growing season. And then he hung up. So I don't know if he meant like our home yards, he wanted us to have a good growing season or what.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so we quickly took that voicemail and turned it into an MP3 file and I believe that it's floating around. It's definitely floating around my music collection. I think Roger Billings, our magazine designer, has a copy of it as well. But yeah, not often you get a voicemail from uh, um, from bill murray, who tells you to uh, oh, the other thing he said at one point along the way he was apologizing for taking so long to get back to us. He just this big sigh and he's like, oh, I gotta get organized. And so apparently he really did handle his own, his own affairs, affairs, because he, he, he called us back personally and left a memory.
Speaker 2:Well, maybe you can bequeath that to us and for the hundred year celebration they can play.
Speaker 1:that Would that be kind of neat. That would be awesome. That would be awesome. Yes, they shouldn't totally do that.
Speaker 2:Well, as we kind of close our conversation with Scott Hollister, I kind of think back. You talk about starting here in 1998 and you look ahead to now. It's 2024. You've gone through a lot professionally, personally. You became a father again, you became a grandfather, yeah, yeah, it's to summarize everything you've been through. There's so much. What kind of things are going through you right now as you kind of get ready to make that transition to your next, next challenge?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's you. You look back on everything and I have been thinking about you know all we've done. I'm really proud that we've for so long been able to make GCM and continue GCM in the role that it's played in the members' lives as a vital source of news and information, and that you know. Just, you know the that time you talk about. You know, from the late nineties until now, there's probably not been a larger seismic shift in the industry and the publications or communications industry than what we have seen over those, over those 25 years. And for the magazine to remain as vital and as important as it has for our readers and they, you know they're not shy to tell us and we appreciate it. And you know we do formal readership surveys, we do informal ones, we obviously see members year round and for them to be as as supportive and gracious and appreciative of what we, what we've done, um is very uh, is is fulfilling it's. It's nice to know that we've Obviously awesome staff that I've been blessed to work with who make me look good. You know the role that I have played at GCSA has involved more than just the production of the magazine, so there are always people bailing me out when it comes to the core duties I'm supposed to be doing, and that's getting this magazine out the door. When it comes to the core duties I'm supposed to be doing, and that's getting this magazine out the door. And I mean I could name everyone. I will name Andrew Hartsock, our senior managing editor yourself. Daryl Pair, our science editor, abby Olchesi, our website editor, roger Billings, who I mentioned earlier. Who does the design work for the magazine, kelly Nice, tyler Stover into the communications team, Angela Hartman, claudia Alterman, greg Stacy, everyone over there, kelsey I think I've got everyone at least in our crew. Mike Strauss, the media relations side I'd be remiss if I didn't mention him. Everyone. It takes a village Howard to point a really sappy phrase. And those people in particular, you guys on the magazine, when I have been called elsewhere and sometimes it's glamorous and sometimes it's not um and um, but to know that we've been able to build something that can kind of sustain itself and um, I'll tell you I mean leaving. I have no concerns about the future of gcm. It's going to continue to kick butt and do great work for GCSA members all over the globe and there there shouldn't be any concern about that. It's going to continue. This podcast is going to continue in some form or fashion. Um, uh, after I'm done, and um, so that's probably the that's probably the most gratifying thing is. That is that we've been able to continue on and and produce this and I'm this and I'm going to miss everyone terribly.
Speaker 1:As you mentioned, a lot of changes in 25 years, the amount of children that have been born and raised and gone off to college and then gotten married and then having kids of their own. I mean, we're talking about that long, and so I think about all that that's going to be. The hardest part is the people side of this and not getting everyone, you know, a chance to see everyone on a regular basis. I'll still be around. I'm not. I'm going to. I'll be around just enough to annoy everyone and make appearances. So so members and staff at GCSA alike will still see me. Staff at GCSA alike will still see me.
Speaker 1:But, as I said when I made this announcement, it was a chance. This opportunity came up, chance for me to not get any younger. You mentioned our age earlier, or not actually our number age, but not getting any younger and the opportunity to present itself to kind of test myself one more time and it was just one of those things not a midlife crisis, but some midlife reflecting and the offer came at just about that same time and one thing led to another and here we are. So I'm looking forward to that challenge. It's with a publication that's adjacent, I guess, to golf, lawn care and landscape.
Speaker 1:Um, uh, so that's going to be, that's going to be good. Um, I'm looking forward to that. But, yeah, it's going to be a. It's going to be tough and not sure what I'm not what I'm going to do when I don't have to drive to Lawrence every day and, um, some of those habits you get doing that. That'll be a different change for me. But uh, it's been a heck of a ride and I'm very, very grateful to everyone at GCSAA and the staff and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:So Well, scott, on behalf of myself and the whole GCM team, and really all of GCSAA, we thank you for everything you've done, friendships being our mentors, helping us. I mean you've done it all, and you've done it with class, and I'm going to miss you, and I'm not the only one. So we do wish you the best and we'll see you again. Often, us being K-State fans, I'm sure we'll see each other once in a while and talk about that a little bit but, you're going to do great and we'll be, and talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 2:but you're going to do great and we'll be. We'll be really thrilled to get chances to see you as we all go on throughout the rest of our lives.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that. That that is the beauty of of, I guess, of the new challenge, is that it's going to allow me the opportunity to at least pop into your life and and and bug folks from time to time, time to time. And, as I, as I said, when I, when I do that, I'll probably I'll be wearing the, the, a different, a different logo, um, but uh won't affect, uh won't affect the relationships that um been lucky enough to have with with you, with with everyone else on the team, and um, yeah, I'm going to I, you know the, the, the membership has been unbelievable. The amount of, the amount of calls and emails and texts and, you know things, messages on social media was overwhelming. It was a lot to deal with, and I mean that in the best sense of the word. You just, you know, I wish everyone could have that opportunity, could have that opportunity.
Speaker 1:You know, unfortunately, most of us go through life and you don't hear that kind of stuff until something bad happens or you're not around anymore, and that was a unintended consequence of the move, and I'm very, very and I think I've said this publicly on those social media channels and everything. And I will say it again, and if people read my final column in the magazine, they'll get a sentiment as well, but I'm unbelievably grateful to everyone who just took a second to reach out. And you don't know how many. You don't really know how many people you know until something like this happens. And then you flip your Facebook open and you see you know 400 comments and you're wondering how are you going to respond to them all. So thank you to everyone. I am very grateful.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks a lot, scott, and thank you all for listening GCSAA podcast. I'm Howard Richmond, associate editor with Scott Hollister, editor in chief, and keep on listening. Thank you very much. Thanks, everybody, and keep on listening, thank you very much.
Speaker 1:Thanks everybody. So that's a wrap on a very different episode of the GCSAA podcast presented in partnership with Enview. Obviously a special one for me, pretty emotional, pretty sentimental, but I am thankful for all the support from everyone at GCSAA and that there was such interest in having me do this one more time, and I'm also thankful that Howard Richmond was willing to take the reins on this one. We have worked together for well over a decade at GCSAA, known each other longer than that, so I appreciate him taking one for the team and turning the tables on me a little bit. I hope it goes without saying that I'm going to miss GCSA, all the people I've worked with, the members I've had the privilege of getting to know over the years, and this great industry. It gives me some comfort to know that I'm not giving it up completely and that I'll still make appearances at industry events from time to time, including next year's Conference and Trade Show in San Diego.
Speaker 1:It's been an unbelievable ride over these past 26 years and I can't thank each and every one of you enough for all the support over the years, not only for me but also for the GCM team. It's all meant the world to me and, as I mentioned at the top, this won't be the last time you hear my voice on the GCSA podcast. I'm leaving behind a handful of episodes that were already in the works when I made my big announcement, so those will be hitting your feeds gradually over the next several months. So stay tuned for all that, plus everything else that's to come here long after I'm gone. So with that, for one final time, let me say goodbye with a heartfelt thank you to our podcast editor, Evan Shapiro, to my friends at Enview for their fantastic support of this podcast, to the GCSAA Board of Directors and all my colleagues and friends at Association Headquarters in Lawrence, Kansas, and, of course, my thanks to each of you for subscribing, downloading and listening. Until we meet again, stay safe, stay healthy and thank you for listening to the GCSA podcast.