thedrifter
07-24-08, 06:11 AM
Ex-Marine in heaven as caretaker of Navy-Marine Corps Stadium
By WENDI WINTERS, For The Capital
Published July 23, 2008
A cathedral is, for most people, a Gothic limestone building with flying buttresses and soaring arches, scented with clouds of incense.
Preston Johnson's cathedral soars in its own way, with rows of seats that arc toward the open sky. On game days, it's the aroma of grilled hot dogs that wafts above the 34,000 people who look over Jack Stephens Field at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis.
"I love my job. I love coming in here," said Mr. Johnson, looking around at the sea of blue seats. "I plan to stay as long as I keep enjoying what I'm doing."
The former Marine is the director of stadium operations, working out of a tidy office beneath the seats. One wall is neatly lined with power drills and flashlights. A commemorative football jersey, celebrating the 100th Army-Navy game in 1999, dangles on a hanger from the ceiling. It was a gift from former Naval Academy Athletic Director Jack Lengyel.
Mr. Johnson, 54, first came to work at the stadium with a job-training program in March 1978, not long after his tour of duty with the Marines had ended.
He plans campaigns against litter, peeling paint and crabgrass, with the same gusto that he applied in the military. He also has to deal with the detritus of pranks plotted by over-enthusiastic midshipmen and the opposing team's supporters. Mr. Johnson still winces as he remembers the time Air Force cadets candy-striped the goalposts just before a game. His crew had to scramble to paint over the vandalism.
"Our security is better now," he said.
In 1979, Bill Yanovitch, a retired Marine first sergeant who ran the stadium, asked Mr. Johnson if he wanted a permanent job, Mr. Johnson said. "Back then, there were eight permanent employees, pushing lawn mowers and cutting the grass."
Now, there are three permanent employees and a cadre of seasonal workers. Assisting Mr. Johnson are James Crowner, a 15-year employee, and Damisi Price, who's been there a decade.
"Except for the trimmers, we ride most of the machines now," Mr. Johnson said. Mr. Yanovitch retired in 1979 and Joseph Johnson (no relation) was caretaker for 20 years. When he retired, he recommended Preston Johnson for the job.
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, opened in 1959, replacing Thompson Stadium, which had about one-third the seating capacity. Four years ago, the stadium underwent a major renovation and upgrade. The grassy field was replaced with artificial turf.
"I used to do most of the cutting on that field," Mr. Johnson said. "I loved taking care of it and cutting patterns into the grass. People would come by and say how nice that natural grass field looked."
But the new surface allows more activities on the field, such as soccer and lacrosse, he said. "We can have a football game today and change the lines on the field to have a Women's Lacrosse Division 1 game tomorrow. Everyone wants to play on it. It's fun."
There have been changes outside the stadium, too.
"Six or seven years ago, the outside was nothing like it is today," he said. "People come to walk around the nature trails now. We have a lot of nice landscaping. The guys here do an amazing job of keeping it all looking good."
His responsibility as caretaker of the stadium is to ensure it is sparkling clean and ready for each game and every practice.
"It's a memorial," he emphasized. "It always has to be a clean facility." Another crew does the cleanup after games, Mr. Johnson makes sure it's done, clean and ready. He handles the repair and maintenance of the lights, bathrooms and everything in the stadium. Mr. Johnson's crew is not as involved with the parking lot, though it mows the grassy areas and stripes them with paint during the football season. It also mows, lines and paints the fields by the river where the football team practices once a week, he said.
The crew is already gearing up for the first home game of the season on Aug. 30, when Navy plays Towson State.
"The hardest part of thejob is when I stay here 12 to 15 hours or I have to work through the night getting ready for an event, Mr. Johnson said. "Sometimes all the football lines have to be washed, scrubbed and rinsed off the field with special machines. It's a long process. So we can have flexibility, we don't have inlaid lines."
Chet Gladchuk, Navy's athletic director, said "There's a no more dependable human being on the face of the earth than Preston Johnson,'' he said, noting that Mr. Johnson takes pride in that stadium. "Every tree, every shrub, every memorial plaque - no detail is too small. Every game day, that stadium exudes pride," he said.
"When you take a look at its beauty, aesthetics, the landscaping, gardens and cleanliness - that's Preston Johnson. That's his baby. Any day of the week, that place is going to look pristine. It's something that's important to the alumni and the Naval Academy family."
Mr. Johnson was born in Edgewater and raised in Annapolis. He was the sixth of nine children. A younger brother, by two minutes, is his identical twin, Russell, who lives in Virginia.
Mr. Johnson attended Parole Elementary School (now Parole Mills) and Annapolis Junior High School (now Annapolis Middle). He dropped out of Annapolis High School to help out his family, and in 1974, he enlisted in the Marines.
He earned his GED, a high school diploma, while in the service as a sea duty Marine aboard the aircraft carrier USSFranklin Delano Roosevelt during its final voyages before it was decommissioned in 1977.
Mr. Johnson, who is divorced, has three grown children: LaShonta Saroy, 36, who works at Ginger Cove retirement community; Preston Johnson Jr., 28, of Chestertown; and Phillip Johnson, 23, of Baltimore.
He renovates houses in his spare time, along with his brother, John Mac Johnson and some friends. Their company is JMJ.
But it's football season that is so important to him.
"I love football season and getting ready for football. It's an exciting time of the year," Mr. Johnson said. "There's a lot of pomp and circumstance that goes with it. I'm excited to watch good Navy football - and it's been good the past few years. In good seasons and bad, it's still exciting.
"When you come into a game in this stadium," he declared, "If that doesn't make your heart flutter, you don't have any blood in your body!"
Wendi Winters is a freelance writer living on the Broadneck Peninsula.
Ellie
By WENDI WINTERS, For The Capital
Published July 23, 2008
A cathedral is, for most people, a Gothic limestone building with flying buttresses and soaring arches, scented with clouds of incense.
Preston Johnson's cathedral soars in its own way, with rows of seats that arc toward the open sky. On game days, it's the aroma of grilled hot dogs that wafts above the 34,000 people who look over Jack Stephens Field at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis.
"I love my job. I love coming in here," said Mr. Johnson, looking around at the sea of blue seats. "I plan to stay as long as I keep enjoying what I'm doing."
The former Marine is the director of stadium operations, working out of a tidy office beneath the seats. One wall is neatly lined with power drills and flashlights. A commemorative football jersey, celebrating the 100th Army-Navy game in 1999, dangles on a hanger from the ceiling. It was a gift from former Naval Academy Athletic Director Jack Lengyel.
Mr. Johnson, 54, first came to work at the stadium with a job-training program in March 1978, not long after his tour of duty with the Marines had ended.
He plans campaigns against litter, peeling paint and crabgrass, with the same gusto that he applied in the military. He also has to deal with the detritus of pranks plotted by over-enthusiastic midshipmen and the opposing team's supporters. Mr. Johnson still winces as he remembers the time Air Force cadets candy-striped the goalposts just before a game. His crew had to scramble to paint over the vandalism.
"Our security is better now," he said.
In 1979, Bill Yanovitch, a retired Marine first sergeant who ran the stadium, asked Mr. Johnson if he wanted a permanent job, Mr. Johnson said. "Back then, there were eight permanent employees, pushing lawn mowers and cutting the grass."
Now, there are three permanent employees and a cadre of seasonal workers. Assisting Mr. Johnson are James Crowner, a 15-year employee, and Damisi Price, who's been there a decade.
"Except for the trimmers, we ride most of the machines now," Mr. Johnson said. Mr. Yanovitch retired in 1979 and Joseph Johnson (no relation) was caretaker for 20 years. When he retired, he recommended Preston Johnson for the job.
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, opened in 1959, replacing Thompson Stadium, which had about one-third the seating capacity. Four years ago, the stadium underwent a major renovation and upgrade. The grassy field was replaced with artificial turf.
"I used to do most of the cutting on that field," Mr. Johnson said. "I loved taking care of it and cutting patterns into the grass. People would come by and say how nice that natural grass field looked."
But the new surface allows more activities on the field, such as soccer and lacrosse, he said. "We can have a football game today and change the lines on the field to have a Women's Lacrosse Division 1 game tomorrow. Everyone wants to play on it. It's fun."
There have been changes outside the stadium, too.
"Six or seven years ago, the outside was nothing like it is today," he said. "People come to walk around the nature trails now. We have a lot of nice landscaping. The guys here do an amazing job of keeping it all looking good."
His responsibility as caretaker of the stadium is to ensure it is sparkling clean and ready for each game and every practice.
"It's a memorial," he emphasized. "It always has to be a clean facility." Another crew does the cleanup after games, Mr. Johnson makes sure it's done, clean and ready. He handles the repair and maintenance of the lights, bathrooms and everything in the stadium. Mr. Johnson's crew is not as involved with the parking lot, though it mows the grassy areas and stripes them with paint during the football season. It also mows, lines and paints the fields by the river where the football team practices once a week, he said.
The crew is already gearing up for the first home game of the season on Aug. 30, when Navy plays Towson State.
"The hardest part of thejob is when I stay here 12 to 15 hours or I have to work through the night getting ready for an event, Mr. Johnson said. "Sometimes all the football lines have to be washed, scrubbed and rinsed off the field with special machines. It's a long process. So we can have flexibility, we don't have inlaid lines."
Chet Gladchuk, Navy's athletic director, said "There's a no more dependable human being on the face of the earth than Preston Johnson,'' he said, noting that Mr. Johnson takes pride in that stadium. "Every tree, every shrub, every memorial plaque - no detail is too small. Every game day, that stadium exudes pride," he said.
"When you take a look at its beauty, aesthetics, the landscaping, gardens and cleanliness - that's Preston Johnson. That's his baby. Any day of the week, that place is going to look pristine. It's something that's important to the alumni and the Naval Academy family."
Mr. Johnson was born in Edgewater and raised in Annapolis. He was the sixth of nine children. A younger brother, by two minutes, is his identical twin, Russell, who lives in Virginia.
Mr. Johnson attended Parole Elementary School (now Parole Mills) and Annapolis Junior High School (now Annapolis Middle). He dropped out of Annapolis High School to help out his family, and in 1974, he enlisted in the Marines.
He earned his GED, a high school diploma, while in the service as a sea duty Marine aboard the aircraft carrier USSFranklin Delano Roosevelt during its final voyages before it was decommissioned in 1977.
Mr. Johnson, who is divorced, has three grown children: LaShonta Saroy, 36, who works at Ginger Cove retirement community; Preston Johnson Jr., 28, of Chestertown; and Phillip Johnson, 23, of Baltimore.
He renovates houses in his spare time, along with his brother, John Mac Johnson and some friends. Their company is JMJ.
But it's football season that is so important to him.
"I love football season and getting ready for football. It's an exciting time of the year," Mr. Johnson said. "There's a lot of pomp and circumstance that goes with it. I'm excited to watch good Navy football - and it's been good the past few years. In good seasons and bad, it's still exciting.
"When you come into a game in this stadium," he declared, "If that doesn't make your heart flutter, you don't have any blood in your body!"
Wendi Winters is a freelance writer living on the Broadneck Peninsula.
Ellie