Meet Brian Johnson, Arizona State’s athletic grounds facilities manager. He spends the bulk of his time during football season caring for the fields at Sun Devil Stadium.
“It isn’t just a field to me,” he told Cronkite News at the start of the season. “I’m walking around and treating it like it’s my child.”
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Having a field day: ASU’s Johnson makes sure Sun Devil Stadium is game-ready
But fans also can check out his work at the Cheez-It Bowl. The California Golden Bears will face Texas Christian University’s Horned Frogs at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Chase Field in Phoenix.
He’s painted the field for that game since it was the Insight Bowl in Tucson, he said via Twitter message.
He noted that they don’t use stencils and brush the outline of all the logos and team names by hand – much like they do at ASU.
“We’re probably the only school in the country that doesn’t use a big stencil for those letters,” he said of ASU’s field. “We have it all drawn, hand drawn on graph paper, and we run strings and tape measures and paint brushes and outline our letters.”
#CheezItBowl Great paint service from @wc_paints and @EwingIrrigation #TCU #Cal pic.twitter.com/WxU9mRQNjO
— Brian Johnson (@bermuda419s) December 24, 2018
Players approve.
“We have probably one of the Top 3 best fields, Top 5 … in the country,” ASU quarterback Manny Wilkins told Cronkite News in August. “I make sure I let him know how appreciative I am.”
Johnson’s work is known throughout the country. He has painted all but one Super Bowl field in the past 21 years.