Ohio grounds coordinator named SFMA’s 2022 mowing contest winner

Nick Miller, field and grounds coordinator for the City of Aurora (Ohio) Parks and Recreation Department, recently won the Sports Field Management Association’s (SFMA) 2022 mowing contest.

“Growing up in Aurora and now raising a family in the community, there is nothing more rewarding than watching our family friends, and my two girls play on the fields I get to maintain every day,” Miller said.

The winning field is a 28-acre sports complex in Hartman Park constructed in 2018 and consists of four baseball and softball fields and 15 acres of multi-use playing surface for soccer, lacrosse and more. Miller, Michael Cook and additional seasonal staff are responsible for the maintenance of 16 ballfields throughout the city.

Miller, an Aurora native, graduated from Kent State University with a degree in horticulture and worked in the golf industry for 10 years at Walden Country Club. He worked for the Davey Tree Expert Company from 2014-2018 as an irrigation technician for their commercial grounds division and then received a promotion to production manager in 2017.