 |
Globe West Sports Notebook
Belmont native Jack Grinold, (above) sports information director at Northeastern University since 1962 and the dean of SIDs throughout New England, will receive the ECAC Commissioner’s Award for meritorious service Oct. 6 at the organization’s fall convention in Hyannis.
“The announcement by the [Eastern College Athletic Conference] came as quite a surprise and it’s a nice feeling after nearly 50 years at Northeastern to be recognized again,’’ said Grinold, who has been press steward at the Eastern Sprints (crew races) in Worcester for 40 years and is the only nonathlete or coach to be enshrined in the Northeastern Athletic Hall of Fame. “Working around young people all the time, I think of myself as young, although my doctor might tell you otherwise.’’
Grinold, whose numerous honors include having the Eastern Massachusetts chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame named after him (he served as its president), graduated from Browne & Nichols School in 1953 where he was tennis team captain and a varsity basketball player.
A Bowdoin College graduate who served in the merchant marine for two years, Grinold was a public relations assistant for the Boston Patriots in 1960 and ’61. “When I found out the Patriots, who were in a bit of financial trouble, wanted me to sell season tickets for six months, I felt it was time to move on.’’ said Grinold.
His father, John J. Grinold, was team physician at Belmont High for 49 years; the Student-Athlete Award is named for him.
Al Shields, Grinold’s predecessor at Northeastern, went on to become athletic director and a highly successful men’s basketball coach at Bentley College.
Here and there
Ricky Santos has a new home in the Canadian Football League. On Monday, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers acquired the Santos, a record-setting quarterback at Bellingham High and the University of New Hampshire, from the Montreal Alouettes for defensive linemen Riall Johnson and Shawn Mayne. Santos, 25, was the fourth-string quarterback in Montreal, but the Bombers like his potential. “Ricky had astronomical numbers coming out of the University of New Hampshire, and we feel he is a mature kid with some skill sets,’’ said Bombers coach Mike Kelly in a radio interview. For now, he will back up former Patriot Michael Bishop and Casey Bramlet in Winnipeg. . . . The Brandeis women’s cross-country squad finished second among 42 teams last weekend at the UMass-Dartmouth Shriner’s Invitational, aided by sophomore Kate Warwick of Boxborough (Acton-Boxborough) who was 12th on the 5,000-meter course in 18:32. . . . Former Wayland High School teammates Chris Doran and Sam Wisner of Wayland are tricaptains on the Trinity College men’s soccer team, whose lineup also includes senior Brandon Ward (Framingham High School) and sophomore Joe Buckley of Shrewsbury (St. John’s).Marvin Pave can be reached at 508-820-4223 or marvin.pave@rcn.com. 
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
