When the Frontier League’s post-season honors were announced Sunday, the ThunderBolts had an award winner for the sixth time in the last seven years when Mike VerSchave was named Groundskeeper of the Year.
This is VerScahve’s first such award. He has been with the organization since 1999 when the team was known as the Cook County Cheetahs.
In his 15 years with the Cheetahs/ThunderBolts, VerSchave has filled many positions around the stadium, including message board operator and sound director, public address announcer, groundskeeper, account executive and his current title of director of operations. He has been a full time member of the ThunderBolts front office since 2007.
He has been working on the Standard Bank Stadium grounds crew since the start of the 2005 season and remained an assistant groundskeeper for three years. Prior to the 2007 season, he was promoted to head groundskeeper, a position he has held for the past seven seasons.
Aside from his work on the Standard Bank Stadium field, VerSchave has retained his other responsibilities, including ensuring that the facilities are prepared for game days and monitoring the operations of the press box and gameday presentation.
With the Groundskeeper of the Year award, he joins general manager Mike Lucas as members of the ThunderBolts front office to win major awards. Lucas was named 2012’s Executive of the Year.
