Personality Profile

A Slice of American HistoryBy Lori Ward Bacher

"My life's dull and boring and I'd like10 keep it that way," jokes Terry Ward,advertising and sales manager for theMilorganile Division of the MilwaukeeMetropolitan Sewerage District.

"Oh, no," I counter. "This is one ofthe more interesting interviews I'vedone for the Personality Profile col-umn."

"Why?" he asks.I can't put my finger on it at the time,

so I say something about his outgoingpersonality and varied career. But thenext day, as I organize my thoughts 10begin writing this article, it hits me.Terry Ward is a slice of American his-tory. He lived through, or was affectedby, many of the major events of postWorld War II America.

Born in 1946, his father was a WorldWar II veteran who came home fromthe war, got a good job with the KohlerCompany, and worked there "for along, long time," as Terry puts it. At thattime in America's history, once youfound a good job, you kept it - and itkept you.

Although he grew up as a "city kid"in Plymouth, Wis., Terry had close con-nections to agriculture, as did many ofhis peers at the time. "Literally all of myrelatives, my uncles on both sides ofthe family, were in the ag business," herecalls, adding that he spent manychildhood days working on farms.

A child of the stable and prosperous1950's, Terry graduated from PlymouthHigh School in 1964 just as Americawas entering a period of great unrest.He chose to go to college at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison.

But Terry's reasons for being in col-lege weren't strictly academic. "Let'sbe candid. I was basically studyingdraft deferment at the time," he admits."I was going to be in the College ofAgriculture and Life Sciences, where Istill feel I can hang my hat. But I wasstudying 2S. I was trying to beat thedrafllike everyone else. I had no inter-est in the military."

Terry Ward

While in college, he also was amember of the UW football team."That's how bad we were," he saysabout the fact that he made the team.He was not a regular, but a spot player.

"And this is where the plot thickens,"Terry continues. "I finally got my gradepoint up to the point where I coulddeclare a major. Then I ruined myknee in football. I blew my right kneeabsolutely apart."

After the injury and surgery, hedropped out of school. "My leg was sofar gone that getting around was diffi-cult," he remembers. By dropping outof school, he also lost his 25 draft clas-sification. "The people who put my legback together said, 'They're nevergoing to draft you with a knee like this.'I can't tell you how wrong they were."

He was drafted late in 1966, just asthe war in Viet Nam was escalating. Anappeal was unsuccesstul. "I wentthrough basic training first, and thenadvanced training. And then I volun-teered for officer candidate schoolthinking, 'Look, if I'm going to be

13

involved in the war, I might as well do itin the right fashion." Terry points out.

He was commissioned as a 2ndLieutenant in the infantry. Then he vol-unteered for jump school, or parachutetraining, and the ranger program. "Imanaged to zip through both of thoseand get myself assigned to specialforces, the Green Berets.

"I ended up getting assigned to VietNarn." he continues. "Not in specialforces, but in an infantry unit. And laterI commanded a special forces' A'team." At this point in the interview, hesighs. There's a long pause. "This iswhat I don't want to talk about. Therehave been a couple of things that Iendured that shall not be repeated.They're not thought about."

Being nine years younger thanTerry and a high school student whenthe war ended, I've only seen VietNam in news reports, movies anddocumentaries. Terry lived it. I'm curi-ous about his experiences, but I don'twant to press him.

"Just one question," I say. "Was itanything like all the movies that havebeen made?"

"I have not seen one. I do not readthe books. There are certain thingsthat I would like to purge," he solemn-Iyanswers.

"Suffice it to say that I am the cus-todian, thanks to the people whoworked with me, of a silver star andtwo bronze stars," he says. "I also gotthree purple hearts. You've got to getshot to get those, so those are mine!But the other awards, they belong tothe kids. They don't necessarilybelong to me."

When he was released from theArmy, Terry says that he looked like across between Ironside and the manin the Hathaway shirt ads who wearsan eye patch. "I was in a wheel chairand had limited sight in one eye. Thiswasn't fun," he says in a high andshaky voice.

(Continued on page 15)

(Continued from page 13)"I was hurt bad," he continues.

"But not in comparison to those peo-ple who were maimed and disfiguredfor life. I recovered after some time.I'm good as new, just about."

It would be an understatement tosay that the war changed his outlookon life. "So long as they aren't shoot-ing at us, so long as they aren't tooclose, that makes for a pretty goodday here!" he says. "I think that's whyI'm always upbeat. I know the worstdays are behind me. Every day is agood day. Believe me, I know what abad day is."

He knew he wanted to go back toschool after returning from the war,but he decided not to enroll atMadison again. "Given the Madisoncampus and what was going on therepolitically, I didn't think I would fit in,"he says of the anti-war riots that wereprevalent at the time.

Terry wasn't looking for more con-frontation in his life-the kind hemight have found on the Madisoncampus. "All of the chips that I hadon my shoulder were knocked offduring Viet Nam," he says. "I cameback a changed person. If I had gonethere looking for a fight, I was morethan accommodated. I had seenenough awful things that made mywhole outlook change. Instead ofcourting confrontation, I said that Iwould have no more of it."

So he enrolled at the University ofWisconsin-Milwaukee where heeventually earned a business degree.While in school, he also started work-ing for the Murphy Products Divisionof the Schlitz Brewing Company. "Atthe time, Schlitz was in the processof trying to find an outlet for all thebrewers grains and other by-productsthat they had," Terry explains.

"It's kind of like the Milorganitestory," he continues. "You've gotsomething left over. What can you dowith it?" The people at MurphyProducts developed "Maltlage," atrademarked product that was drierand had a longer shelf life than wetbrewers grains. It was sold mostly tocattle farmers.

"That job really was a lot of fun,"says Terry, adding that it used hisagricultural background and his busi-ness training. He traveled around thecountry-wherever Schlitz had abrewery-to help create a local mar-ket for Maltlage.

With less than 10 years at this job,Terry was hit with another American

phenomenon: a corporate buyout."The sun set on this whole operationwhen Stroh's bought Schlitz and said,'We're in the beer business. We're notin the by-products business," Terryrecalls. And so he was out of a job.

But soon he had a job withLindsay Brothers, a wholesale distrib-utor of agricultural implements and,later, outdoor power equipment."When I started at Lindsay the ageconomy was on the up side," Terryremembers. "Business was justincredible."

However, Terry left the companyafter being contacted by EngineeringProducts, manufacturer of the PowerKing tractor. "They asked me to comeon board and get the business kind ofcranked up and turned around," Terryrecalls.

"I walked in there and everythinglooked just delightful and dandy," hecontinues. "And then suddenly thedollar and the yen started meetinghead on and it became far more rea-sonable to import the Japanese rice-type tractor.

"The Japanese had a large selec-tion of small tractors that found aniche with American sundown typefarmers and others who neededsmall tractors," Terry continues."Their tractors were diesel and hadhydraulics, a-wheel drive and powerassists. We were sitting with a plainold gas tractor with manual transmis-sion. And they were coming in sever-al thousand dollars less than wewere. We were dead. We weredead." The victim of Japanese com-petition, just like many Americancompanies during the 1980's.

Again, Terry landed on his feetwhen he found a job as advertisingmanager for the Milorganite Divisionof the Milwaukee MetropolitanSewerage District. Since then, he hasbecome the sales manager, too.

"I came here right after that busi-ness with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's dis-ease and the flap about the heavymetals in Milor qanlte,' he says,adding that a physician linkedMilorganite with three San Francisco4gers who acquired Lou Gehrig's dis-ease.

"His allegations proved to be com-pletely unfounded," Terry points out."Milorganite was woefully maligned.In some cases, we're still living withthe residual today."

Terry estimates that about 40 per-cent of Milorganite is sold to golfcourses, either straight or in blends.With the professional market, a lot ofemphasis is put on helping customersfind answers to their problems. "Theolder you get, the less you know, butthe more you know good," he says."The more you know good is who youknow and where you call go to get theright answers. In the professional mar-ket, that's kind of what I do."

When I ask Terry if it's easy to sellMilorganite, he quickly responds witha resounding "No! Number 1, it's themost misunderstood product in thewhole wide world," he says. "A lot ofpeople say, 'Well, I'd use it if itweren't human fecal material.' Well,it's not.

"Sewage sludqe, or oro solids aswe now call it, is actually dried micro-scopic, unicellular animals and plantsthat are naturally occurring and that

Don Spier, Marketing Specialist10 Devine Way· Sycamore,

Illinois 60178

(815) 895-7860

How to KeepThings FromTurning Ugly.From nutsedge to nightshade, fireants to fungi, nobody works harderto protect your turt andornamentals than elba-Geigy.

For All Your Turland OrnamentsNeeds See ... elBA-GEIGY

15

eat the food sources that are in thewater," he explains. "What we do issqueeze the water out of them; con-tinue to treat the water; take the restthat's left over, l.e. those dead bugs;heat them to 1200 degrees; and ta-dal You've got Milorganite!"

Another selling challenge is thatsome superintendents say the priceis too high for the units of nitrogen itdelivers. "If you look at just the nitro-gen, that argument holds a lot ofwater," Terry admits. "But then youtake a look at the iron in the product.It's chelated iron.

"I also fall back on our heritageand the fact that this product hasworked," he continues. "It covers a lotof people's derrieres, quite frankly.We have been a good, dependablesource of nutrients for golf turfgrasssince 1926."

Terry reports that more and moremunicipalities are taking a long lookat processing their sewage sludgeand selling it as a dried fertilizer prod-uct. Some are already doing it. "Butthey don't have the sophisticated

process that we do," he adds. "That'snot to knock their process. But they'renot coming in with the type of exper-tise and background we have, nor theresearch and interchange that wehave had with superintendents andwith our distributors. They're comingin with this stuff that's black and gran-ular and looks like Milorganite and isso much cheaper. But it does not per-form the same."

Besides his work at Milorganite,Terry enjoys silting on the board ofdirectors of the Noer TurfgrassResearch Foundation. With the turfindustry becoming more technical,he's glad that the Noer Foundation"has done a lot to direct funds intoprojects and people who are definite-ly bettering the game of golf and turf-grass research in general.

"That's why l'm more than willingto spend the time on the boardbecause we're doing the right thinghere:' Terry adds. "We've got somepretty big hitters who sit on that NoerFoundation board. It's been fun to bearound those people. They are, with-

out a doubt, some of the leading peo-ple in the industry."

Outside of work, Terry has beenspending a lot of time with the fivechildren that he and his wife, Beverly,have raised. The children range inage from 29 to 20, with three of themstill in college. Beverly, a respiratorytherapist, is on medical leave fromher job right now.

He and Beverly also spend time attheir "little bitty farmette'' betweenElroy and Mauston, Wis. "I grow wild-flowers and turkey and deer and a lit-tle bit of alfalfa," Terry points out. "Butnothing that moos or bellows. I wantto stay away from livestock." Hedoes, however, enjoy hunting.

"When I was young and foolish Iused to jump out of airplanes a lot,but I don't do that anymore," he says."After 2,000 jumps I finally sold all myequipment."

Terry also was a marathon runneruntil a few years ago. "My bestmarathon time was 3:36 and smallchange," he says. "But my achillestendon and I parted ways about

--

16

\

three-and-one-haJf years ago, so Idon't run anymore. I gained a lot ofweight and went through a lot ofstress during that period."

Now his Number 1 avocation isgolf. "It comes with the business," hesays of the invitations he receiveswhile calling on golf courses withMilorganite distributors. "When you'reinvited to play, when they have thecourtesy to ask you, you should playwith some degree of confidence,"Terry says very seriously.

Many TrucksEqUipped with

High FloatationTires to

MinimizeDamage to your

Golf Course

"I don't!" he laughs. "But I at leastplay well enough so that I don't goout and embarrass myself on a regu-lar basis. We do have a good time."

Even though golf turf provides agood share of Terry's business, hesees beyond the grass itself. 'Whetherwe know it or not, we're not in thegrass business," he believes. "We're inthe entertainment business. We pro-vide people with some outstandingopportunities to talk about business ortalk about nothing or just involve them-

• New Construction• Remodelling• Irrigation• Drainage• Feature Shaping• Trap Sand Replacement

Construction Services to the Golf Industry:Your source for Golf Course Construction, Reconstruction & improvement.

You have the Projects, ideas & Needs. We have the Experience & Equipment to dothe job Right the First time.

Water Control Structures.Pond Cleaning.

New Ponds.Pond Lining.---------1 Cart Paths·

CALL US TODAY!!

Lee Bruce

selves in being outside for a little while.I think the game of golf is absolutelyincredible as far as lifting cares for two-and-one-half to five hours.

"At Milorganite we're providingsome awfully good people with anopportunity to grow some real nicegrass so other people can get outthere and forget about all the worries intheir lives for a while," Terry concludes.

Given his history, Terry knowswhat it is to have worries and the needto forge1 about them for a while.iII

(608) 836-7041Established 1953

SpecializedEquipmentsuited toCleaning yourexisting GolfCourseWaterFeatures.

Carl Dowse

Why You Need Protectionfor your trrigation

Controt SystemThe D & B Power Protection Package isdesigned specifically for golf course irrigationsystems lo eliminate the problem of lightningstrikes and prevent catastrophic damage toexpensive irrigation control equipment.

-~. .. - Phone (708) 232-6411D & B SALES ASSOC. LN"C.

TIi< PITlf<>'~"1II POW<>"Li", .ll<to'm

T1IE GRASS tS ALWAYS GREENER...TOPDRESSING WIT1t TIl5-2150 SAND

• Consistent Quality• lab Reports with Every Shipment

• Wisconsin's largest Topdressing Sand Supplier• Give Us a Call for More Information

17