If you’ve worked here for a while, you’ve likely seen Brandon Byrd, though you may not know his name. He’s often hiding under a baseball cap riding a lawn mower, brandishing a weed eater or bending over a patch of flowers. Chances are, though, you have been recipient of his warm smile, freely given. Byrd likes to keep to himself and often can be seen singing along to 80’s music on his headphones while tending grounds. He also likes to chit chat and recently shared his story.
Byrd, 54, is originally from the South Charlotte suburbs and has worked for almost six years at A-B Tech doing groundskeeping. Having worked in restaurants as a young adult, he found his way to landscaping in his twenties and hasn’t looked back. For two decades he worked at golf courses in the area including the Biltmore Forest Country Club. His job there was mowing all morning to get the course ready for golfers. Though he enjoyed this job, he says he prefers A-B Tech’s community.
“Everybody here is real friendly and nice,” he says. “Coming from a golf course with rich members, well,” He grins mischievously. “You know what I mean.”
Byrd works from 7 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday -Friday and shares groundskeeping with 7 other workers, each of whom have their own section of campus. Byrd's section includes the area in front of the library, which he says is his favorite because it's where he’s planted about 35 plants including purple phlox and orange canna lilies. Friday is his day to tend to his flowers, and, incidentally, it is also his favorite work day. He is not as crazy about weed eating or hauling trash, though you will not hear him complain.
When not working outside, Byrd relaxes indoors by playing with his Xbox. “People who work inside go outside on weekends. I just want to go inside and relax.”
He also is an avid music fan and has been to over 100 concerts, many of them heavy metal bands including Metallica, Limp Bizkit and 311.
For the past month Byrd, along with the other groundskeepers, has been cleaning up after the hurricane, clearing debris and fallen trees. He says there were about 20 trees down on campus after Helene, and pointed out a spot on the hill across from Simpson where four trees had been torn from the ground.
“They supported a stone wall and now that they’re gone, the wall is eroding so we may have to take it down,” he says.
One of his favorite parts of the job is seeing animals around the college campus. Coyote, turkeys, skunks, deer, bears and his personal favorite, the campus crows.
Byrd says he’s always loved crows and, while at the golf course he was able to earn their trust slowly by feeding them over the years. Here, it’s not been as easy. He occasionally feeds them, but the birds prefer to keep to themselves, calling down from the trees as he makes his way around campus. Despite their antisocial tendencies, he has not given up hope.
“The other day, I couldn’t believe it. One landed right on my truck," he breaks out into a smile, eyes wide. “ It was so great.”