Turf Wars: OPRF's Groundsman On Being Green, Staying That Way
Elvin Zapata dishes the dirt on the OPRF's sports fields.
Growing up, Elvin Zapata longed for the days when the grass would be greener. A former baseball player at Carl Schurz High School in Chicago, Zapata remembers sliding into second base and his pants ripping. "I had rocks in my skin," he said. "They were not safe fields back then." Now, he is the head groundsman at Oak Park-River Forest High School, which means he oversees every field and playing surface on campus, from the track and tennis courts to the main football and soccer field. "When you come onto one of our fields here in Oak Park, I know that they're safe fields, because I make it my business to make them safe," he said. But maintaining the fields is just the beginning of his job description. In addition to the tireless …
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