GRINNELL COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Two-Sport Athletes, Part 3

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Two-Sport Athletes, Part 3

Earlier this winter we took a look at the impact our football players were having on the track team, but it's time to recognize the efforts some of our guys are having on other sports, golf and baseball in particular.

Pioneer wide receiver Zach McGriff showing off that sweet swing

Two springs ago the men's golf team finished in fourth place at the conference tournament. They followed that up last spring with a fifth place finish. Currently the Pioneers sit in first place in the conference, with a team scoring average of 312.5, five strokes in front of the second place team. Part of the team success this year can be traced back to Pioneer wide receiver Zach McGriff '17. McGriff currently sits at sixth place overall, with an impressive average score of 77.7. In two weeks the Pioneers travel to Rockford, IL for the Midwest Conference Championship meet, played Aldean Country Club. Good luck to Zach and the rest of the squad.

While the golf squad is experiencing a new level of success, it seems to be more of the same old thing for the baseball team. Consistently in the top two in the Southern Division, the baseball team looks to lock up another top finish and to qualify for the Conference Championship Tournament once again. With safety Jacob Beecher '16 out with an injury, this year's baseball roster contains only two football players. Jacob Bernholtz '17 has seen action in three games this year, scoring two runs as a pinch runner. Bernholtz was also a part-timer for the track and field team during the indoor season, proving that speed is a valuable asset in all sports.

All-Conference punter Graham Fisher '16 is having an outstanding season this spring, as both a pitcher and a hitter. Already highly regarded as one of the better pitchers in the Southern Division, Fisher has seen increased time in the field as a junior, and has now become one of the more feared hitters as well. Fisher is second in the conference in batting average (.441), second in slugging percentage (.735), fourth in on base percentage (.506) and sixth in home runs (4). Pretty impressive for anybody, let alone somebody labeled as a pitcher. Keep up the good work, Fish!

The Honor G

The Honor G, the official emblem of Grinnell College athletics, was first used at the Iowa state track championship in 1892. Designed by Earnest "Skip" Atherton, class of 1895, the original Honor G consisted of a scarlet maltese cross with a black "I and "C" (for Iowa College) superimposed on the cross. Two years later in 1894, the "I" and "C" were replaced by a black gothic "G", and the modern day Honor G was born. The gothic "G", which was also used on letter sweaters and is now used on letter jackets, was replaced by an Old English "G" in the mid-1930's. After some protest, it was quickly changed back to the gothic "G", and it has remained unchanged since that time.