Darrell Downs checks the blooms on a hibiscus at Mansfield City Schools’ Arlin Field.
It’s first down and blooming at Arlin Field.
Hibiscus, cone flowers, clematis, hydrangea, red hot pokers and a host of other plants are flourishing at Mansfield City Schools’ iconic football stadium, thanks to the talents of groundskeeper Darrell Downs.
But the story behind the small floral gardens along each side of Arlin’s maintenance building began decades ago.
Like many other kids growing up, Darrell Downs wasn’t always sure his grandfather knew what he was talking about. But Downs listened, watched and learned, eventually developing superior gardening skills that would serve him for a lifetime.
“I was raised by my grandfather, Nathanial Downs, who moved here from Bardstown, Kentucky, to work in the steel mill,” said Downs, 53. “My grandfather kept me off the street. He always had a vegetable garden and flowers. We ate from the garden. I’ve been interested in gardening ever since I was a kid.”
It took some time for Downs to appreciate his grandfather’s talents.
“He had his ways. I thought then he was a little primitive,” Downs said. “He didn’t believe in pesticides. He used egg shells (to add calcium to the soil) and Ohio Blue Tip matches (to add sulphur). He planted by the Farmers Almanac.”
One of the early lessons Downs learned was never to discard anything after a fishing trip.
“After we cleaned the fish, my grandfather would save all of the fish heads, the guts – everything you would throw away – and use them to fertilize the garden,” he said
“I didn’t think it would work, but I didn’t tell him. He would plant a row like he wanted and then I’d plant a row like I wanted. Almost always his row turned out better.”
Because the growing season here is shorter than it is in the South, Downs’ grandfather would start peanuts in window-sill containers, then plant them outdoors in the spring.
“We harvested peanuts, roasted and enjoyed them,” Downs recalled. “I learned so much from my grandfather; it just took me a while to realize it.”
Nathaniel Downs lived to be 96. His legacy also can be seen at Darrell Downs’ Mifflin Township home, where the once-skeptical grandson grows eggplant, bell peppers, banana peppers, chili peppers, several varieties of tomatoes, basil and other herbs.
“I tried sweet corn, but the raccoons knew when to harvest it just before I could,” he said.
Cliff Crose, a member of the Mansfield City Schools Board of Education, has worked with Downs in the district and, earlier, with his grandfather at the steel mill.
“Darrell’s grandfather was a really nice person,” he said. “He wasn’t as tall as Darrell but he was a big man. Others at the mill always remarked about his huge hands.”
Crose said Darrell Downs’ character and personality extend far beyond his gardens.
“Darrell is a gentle giant, a very humble guy. He is one of the most polite people I’ve ever met,” he said.
Crose also cited what he said is Downs’ special connection with kids, even those occasionally sent by the court to do community service work under his direction at Arlin Field.
“Kids love him,” Crose said. “Darrell connects with kids wherever he is because he respects them and they return that respect. He doesn’t talk down to them. Kids work with him, not for him.”
For Downs, the soil returns much more than bright blooms and lush vegetables. It also offers an invisible harvest, one that his grandfather understood.
“Gardening is where I find peace and serenity,” he said.