GRINNELL COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Happy Birthday Nora Jane

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Happy Birthday Nora Jane

Nora (right) and Frances, looking tough in their helmets.

Happy 4th birthday to Nora Jane Pedersen. September 18, 2010 is obviously a day I'll never forget, but Nora's timing could not have been worse (or better, as it turned out). For the complete story, see this blog post from last year. Long story short, Nora was born on a Saturday in September, which is the bad timing. However, she happened to choose a Saturday in which we'd eventually lose a game that was delayed by an hour and a half because of lightning. The good timing is that I was at the hospital for that mess!

Nora is now in her first year of pre-school and growing as fast as you'd expect. She'll be a Grinnell Tiger and a Grinnell College Pioneer before you know it!

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.