NFL Selects Winner of the Toro® Super Bowl
Sports Turf Training Program

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - (November 21, 2003) - Nick McNamee, turf student at Colorado State University, is winner of the second annual Toro Super Bowl Sports Turf Training Program. In January 2004, McNamee will travel to Houston to help the grounds crew maintain practice facilities and the game field at Reliant Stadium for Super Bowl XXXVIII.

The Toro Company and the NFL's Super Bowl grounds team collaborated to offer a program targeted at enhancing the skills of emerging sports turf professionals. The Toro Super Bowl Sports Turf Training Program will provide hands on experience in how safe playing fields are established and maintained for the highest level of football competition, the Super Bowl.

McNamee's passion for sports turf began to emerge at an early age. "While watching the Denver Broncos, I realized all eyes were on those two acres of turf, the foundation for all the magic," said McNamee. While in high school, McNamee took an area of his yard and painted a perfect scale of the Broncos game field, including all the numbers, hashes and the team logo painted on the 50 yard line and the end zones.

McNamee has some familiarity of turf preparation at the professional level, having worked with the turf grass crew at INVESCO Field at Mile High in Denver, CO. and as a sports turf intern with the Fenway Park grounds crew in Boston, MA.

Toro equipment and representatives have been involved in preparing the stadium and practice fields since the first Super Bowl in 1967. Toro has forged strong partnerships with many sports venues and events including: various Major League Baseball and National Football League stadiums, university and college stadiums, the Rose Bowl and Disney's Wide World of Sports.

Communities across the United States trust Toro to help produce superior athletic fields including colleges, K-12 schools and park and recreation organizations.

The Toro Company is a leading provider of outdoor maintenance and beautification products for home, recreation, and commercial landscapes around the world. Together with its distributors, Toro provides innovative products, agronomic expertise and exemplary service that help professional turf managers maintain their landscapes. More information on Toro products is available at www.toro.com or at Toro's website specifically designed for sports turf managers at www.torosports.com.