Steve and Suz Trusty, former Turf News editors, received the TPI Distinguished Service Award.
Turfgrass Producers International presented its TPI Distinguished Service Award and its Turfgrass Educator Award of Excellence during the Annual Business Meeting at the TPI 2026 International Education Conference and Field Day, Feb. 15-19. The conference was held at the JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort in Tucson, Arizona.
TPI Distinguished Service Award
Steve and Suz Trusty, former editors of Turf News, won the TPI Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes outstanding work supporting the industry. They have been active in the green industry for more than 60 years, including hands-on time in garden center management early in their careers. Both have written for many consumer gardening magazines, and Steve’s “Trusty Tips” appeared as a weekly column for a local newspaper and segments for local radio and TV shows. He hosted a live two-hour call-in gardening show on several Nebraska radio stations for eight years and a live one-hour TV show broadcast internationally on RFD-TV.
Steve and Suz were retail correspondents for Nursery Retailer magazine, providing articles and photography for each issue. They managed the Sports Turf Manager Association from November 1995 to October 2004 and contributed to Sports Turf magazine. They served as contributing editors for SportsField Management magazine and wrote for other Moose River Media publications, including Growing and Turf. They provided articles to many other green industry publications, including Golf Course Industry and Golf Course Management.
They became co-editors of Turf News in 2014, taking on the roles for the November/December 2014 issue. Their final issue, November/December 2025, was their 67th Turf News edition. Over that period, they received 19 awards from the Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association for Turf News in the writing, photography and design categories. Both are longtime TOCA members. Steve is a TOCA past president, and both have been inducted into the TOCA Hall of Fame.
“Steve and Suz have spent their careers supporting the green industry, providing reliable, informative news for professionals and sharing our stories with the general public,” said Casey Reynolds, PhD, TPI Executive Director. “Their work helped TPI support sod producers and the wider market, and we are incredibly grateful for the time they spent with us.”
Turfgrass Educator Award of Excellence
Kevin Kenworthy, PhD, professor and graduate coordinator, plant breeding, at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences department, received TPI’s Turfgrass Educator Award of Excellence, which recognizes achievement in growing industry through education.
His 30-plus years of experience in turfgrass includes working on golf courses, employment in the Texas sod industry, a research association position in the Texas A&M Turfgrass Breeding program and teaching turfgrass management at Tarleton State University.
Kenworthy began his current role in 2004, where he encouraged the development of a world-class turfgrass breeding program built on collaboration between growers and end-users. He’s commercialized three turfgrass cultivars: CitraBlue St. Augustinegrass, CitraZoy and Brazos zoysiagrasses. He holds six patents, has authored or coauthored 125 refereed journal articles and chaired 22 graduate students.
“Kevin is a great example of an educator who is actively working for the growth of the industry, encouraging collaboration and education,” said Reynolds. “We applaud his dedication to building stronger connections between sod producers and end-users.”
