GRINNELL COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Six Named Academic All-Conference

Monday, July 18, 2016

Six Named Academic All-Conference

Six student-athletes from the Pioneer Football team were honored as Academic All-Conference for the 2015-16 academic year. To earn the award you must letter in your respective sport and maintain a 3.33 grade point average for the entire academic year. Six honorees is fewer than we've had in the past, but given our smaller roster this past season, it's impressive. One in five guys that participated this past year were tabbed as Academic All-Conference, two of whom were previously named to the Dean's List at Grinnell.

The honorees:

Ed Hardman - Senior Outside Linebacker from Chicago, IL (recognized twice each for football and track and field, also named to the Dean's List twice)

TR Jones - Sophomore Quarterback/Safety from Goldthwaite, TX (first time recognized)

Matt Medrano - Junior Defensive Lineman from Wichita, KS (third time recognized)

Ibuki Ogasawara - Junior Defensive Back from Okinawa, Japan (recognized twice each for football and track and field, also named to the Dean's List four times!)

Sam Poulos - Senior Quarterback from Glen Ellyn, IL (second recognition)

Greg Ruzich - Senior Wide Receiver from Frankfort, IL (third recognition)

Congratulations men!

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.