While a student at Penn State I remember EB Steiniger being a guest speaker. He showed a wonderful slide show of his years at PV. The one thing that stands out to me still to this day(23 years later) the number of trees and other shrub type plant material the he and Mr. Brown planted.
I remember him describing the isolation they created from one whole to another. They were true pioneers that may have started this trend in screening each hole. Now that the trees have matured and additional volunteer plants have also moved in I wonder if they would be champion the cause to push those secondary tree lines back to expose all that wonderful architecture. I bet they would.
For those of you who don't know who Eb Steiniger was, below is a little history.
Eberhard Steiniger
“I spent over sixty years in turf management and field research, and I enjoyed every minute and every year of it.”
Those simple words of Eberhard “Eb” Rudolf Steiniger in a 1993 interview sum up an illustrious career filled with accomplishments as well as lifelong friendships. Steiniger, who served for over fifty years as golf course superintendent at the Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey, was instrumental in the beginnings of Penn State's turfgrass management program. He was part of the group who pushed for turfgrass research funding at Penn State in the late 1920s, and throughout his career collaborated with faculty members H.B. Musser and Fred Grau, as well as others, on development of turfgrasses.
Born and educated in Germany, Steiniger immigrated to the United States in 1926. “A year after I came here,” said Eb, “I saw my first golf course—at Lakeville Country Club in Long Island. The people I was working for were members of that club, and when they took me out to show it to me and I saw this beautiful landscaping and this huge, beautiful piece of turf in front of the clubhouse, I thought, This is for me. And that's where my career in golf course work started.”
“I asked the greenkeeper to hire me, and he did,” Eb continued. “Ayear later, he left for Pine Valley and brought me along. He stayed two years at Pine Valley, and when he left in 1931, I became in charge of the course. I worked directly under the president of the club, John Arthur Brown. That was an unusual situation. And the team of John Arthur Brown and Eb Steiniger lasted over fifty years.” After Brown's death, Steiniger worked six more years at Pine Valley until his retirement in the early 1980s.
While at Pine Valley, Steiniger established a large practice range that included turf nurseries and ten acres of research plots, as well as a helicopter landing pad. “We had any kind of turf that people would bring me,” he said. “And every now and then Burt Musser would sneak over to New Jersey and visit me. I worked closely with Burt.”
Steiniger traveled extensively during his career and often brought back plants to introduce to his research plots at Pine Valley. He helped develop C-7 Cohansey creeping bentgrass, which is found on many golf courses today.
Steiniger also had a role in developing numerous pieces of turfgrass maintenance equipment. He and his lifelong friend Tom Mascaro were “the perfect marriage of innovator and inventor,” said Thomas Watschke, professor of turfgrass science, at the August 1994 dedication of the Penn State Mascaro/Steiniger Turfgrass Equipment Museum. “Tom would invent and prototype pieces of equipment at the urging of Eb, and they'd try them out at Pine Valley. If it didn't work, it was back to the drawing board, back to the metal shop to rework, redesign, redevelop.”
Steiniger's pride in Pine Valley was well known and well deserved—the club features one of the top golf courses in the world. “Pine Valley is a unique place,” says Watschke. “It's gorgeously manicured where it should be, and neglected otherwise. The contrast is stunning. It's such a prestigious club, there are members from all over the world, some who don't even play golf. Eb told me a story once: There was a group of guys from the U.K.—an Irish guy, a Scot, and two from England—who traveled the world playing golf, and every year one of their stops was Pine Valley. During one visit one of them said, ‘Mr. Steiniger, I'd like to pay you a compliment.’ And he said three words: ‘This is it.’ He played all over the world, every year, and Pine Valley was it. Eb told me that was the nicest compliment he ever received.”
I spent over sixty years in turf management and field research, and I enjoyed every minute and every year of it.
Steiniger remained a friend of Penn State throughout his career. He attended his first Turfgrass Conference for Greenkeepers on campus in 1928 and was a faithful attendee thereafter. “Back then, there was very little information available that would help us grow healthy grass,” he said in 1993. “So each and every year I looked forward to going to the Penn State Conference and took great pride in seeing it grow into one of the finest conferences and turf schools in the nation.”
A popular figure at conferences, Steiniger enjoyed the people every bit as much as the education. Says his friend Stan Zontek, director of the USGA Green Section, Mid-Atlantic Region, “At conventions and conferences, superintendents and students alike would gather in hotel rooms and hospitality suites to hear veterans like Eb tell stories. You listened, you learned, and you laughed. And when you went back to work, those tidbits of advice and insights influenced how you did your job.”
Steiniger served as president of the Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council in 1970 and 1971, and he served as president of the Pennsylvania Golf Course Superintendent's Association. He was also director of Penn Stat's Musser Internatonal Turfgrass Foundation and O.J. Noer Turf Research Council and chairman of the Joseph Valentine Research Center.
Those who knew Eb Steiniger can't seem to say enough good things about him. “He was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet—a real fun-loving guy,” says Richie Valentine, turfgrass consultant and son of Joseph Valentine. “He had that German accent that you always recognized. I never heard him say a bad word about anybody. He was something else.” Adds Watschke, “He was a charming fellow, a real gentleman.”
Steiniger passed away in April 2002, at the age of 96. The late George Hamilton shared a few words at his funeral: “Eb's respect and kindness towards everyone was unsurpassed. He and his family were present in August 1994, when we dedicated the Penn State Mascaro/Steiniger Turfgrass Equipment Museum. To Eb, the excitement of the day wasn't about the building with his name on it. It wasn't about the vast array of equipment in the building. It was about the people. Being together with his family, his good friend Tom Mascaro, and others was the big event. I think it's safe to say that Eb loved people more than any other part of life.”
That's evident in this note, which Steiniger wrote to Fred Grau in 1973:
Dear Fred,
Here is my check for $100.00 for my sustaining membership in the PTC. I am just so glad to send this as long as I can afford it. I will never be able to repay Pennsylvania State University for what they've done for me. I always will be indebted to them for giving me knowledge, guidance, for helping me in my career, and for the wonderful friends I made.
P.V. was never prettier this spring. John Arthur is still going strong, but he needs me a lot.
Gratefully yours,
Old Eb