Two veterans who have stood by the Cleveland Browns since their second debut in 1999 are retiring after serving for over 50 years. Their top groundkeepers are parting ways before the season starts. 

Chris Powell, the team’s Head Groundskeeper, and Grounds Supervisor Scott Springer are retiring after over two decades with the team. The Browns made this announcement on July 30.

“Together, Powell and Springer spent more than five decades helping maintain the fields at Huntington Bank Field and CrossCountry Mortgage Campus, ensuring the Browns' home turf was ready not only for football games, but also concerts, soccer matches, training camp and countless other events,” Kelsey Russo reported for the ClevelandBrowns.com.

Powell joined the Browns in 1992 as assistant groundskeeper, became head groundskeeper when the franchise resumed play in 1999, and served 27 seasons in that role.

He took over as the head groundskeeper after the Browns resumed playing in the NFL in 1999.  

“The Browns gave me the opportunity to do what I love doing,” Powell said. “For me, 27 seasons with the new Browns, to be able to do what we do and still want to come in and enjoy the company, enjoy the task at hand.”

He indeed kept the same company for a very long time: Scott Springer. The two reunited in 1999 after Powell offered him a chance to join the Browns.

They had worked together from the 1980s to the early 1990s. Powell saw Springer grow up as he had begun working with the ground crew at just 17. 

In the gap between his two Browns stint, he worked as the grow-in supervisor at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium. This was when the stadium switched to natural grass from artificial turf in 1994. 

In the 27 years he worked with Powell, the duo became the leading face of the Browns’ grounds crew. 

“We’re very, very close. I love Chris,” Springer said. “We share personal stuff that's in our lives, and he's done nothing but help extend my career. He means everything to me.”

These retirements are bittersweet, but Powell’s marks the end of an era for the Browns.

Chris Powell retires as the Cleveland Browns’ longest tenured employee

Chris Powell took on his role when the Cleveland Browns were revived in the NFL in 1999 with a new franchise owner and a new stadium: Cleveland Browns Stadium, now renamed Huntington Bank.

From then to now, he retires as the franchise’s longest-tenured employee. Meanwhile, his second-in-command, Scott Springer, takes the third spot. 

“It's just really cool to have a crew that you've been together with for so long,” Powell said. “For over 40 years, I've been part of a team atmosphere where we have objectives and goals to reach. But I've got new ones now, so I'm going to concentrate on faith, family and health.”

Together, the duo has left a legacy that spans over fifty years in the franchise. Now the Browns begin a new season without them.

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Written by

Akanksha Biradar