graphic courtesy of Northeastern Athletics
The Northeastern University athletics department has unveiled plans to honor its legendary sports information director,
John P. “Jack” Grinold, for his nearly half-century of dedicated service.
Northeastern will hold a gala celebration on Saturday, Sept. 10, at the school’s historic Matthews Arena. Additional information, along with event registration, is now available on the athletics department’s website at
www.goNU.com/GrinoldTribute.
Grinold, now the associate athletics director for communications, first joined the university in 1962 and is widely regarded as the dean of New England sports information directors. Over his nearly five decades on Huntington Avenue, he has developed a wide-ranging, innovative athletic communications office. Often called “the innovator of innovators,” he shaped the careers of countless sports information professionals—including many who benefited from an internship program he established within the department.
At various points during his tenure with the university, Grinold has managed sports information, sports marketing, ticketing, and radio and television packaging. In 1985, he was elected to the Northeastern University Athletics Hall of Fame,
becoming the first non-athlete or coach to receive the honor. And, in 1998, as part of Northeastern’s centennial celebration, he was chosen as one of the 100 individuals responsible for the institution’s growth and success.
Grinold has an impressive record of accomplishment in the field of sports publicity. He has been recognized several times by the national organization for college athletic communications, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). He was inducted to the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 1994, and in 1999 received the organization’s Community Service Award. He has been awarded more than 25 CoSIDA Citations of Excellence for various university publications.
In 2003, Grinold was inducted to the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and in 2009 to the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame. He was the first recipient of the New England Information Publicity Plus Award in 1971, and earned the ECAC Service Bureau Award in 1979. Additionally, in 2009, he received the ECAC Commissioner’s Award, and in 2010 the ECAC-SIDA Award for Distinguished Achievement.
Grinold’s impact reaches far beyond the Northeastern campus. His long-time, dedicated service includes: secretary of the New England Writers Association since 1964; chairman of the New England Writers Association football and hockey banquets since 1964; and executive director and former president of the Eastern Massachusetts Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame, now known as the Jack Grinold Chapter. From the latter, he received the Contribution to Amateur Football Award in 1994, and in 1996 the National Foundation honored him with its Chapter Leadership Award.
Grinold served as chairman of CoSIDA’s Committee on Committees. Additionally, he has served as a press steward for the Eastern Sprints for 33 years and was press steward at the venue of rowing and canoeing at the 1984 Olympiad in Los Angeles. He also is the secretary of Boston’s celebrated Beanpot hockey tournament.
He was honored by Boston University as the first non-media person to be the recipient of the Scarlet Quill Award and was the first-ever recipient of the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston’s John Baronian Award for lifetime contribution to football in 1997.
Grinold’s expertise is not limited to college athletics. He is a recognized sports historian and has appeared on numerous radio and television shows, including Costas Coast to Coast. He has appeared on SportsChannel, ESPN, NESN and WABU, discussing the early days of sports in Boston.
Away from sports, he is a life member of the Boston Athenaeum and has been elected to the Colonial Society of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Historical Society, where he served on the Art Committee. He served on the Community Advisory Board to the trustees of WGBH-TV, and is currently vice president of the Victorian Society of New England, where he also chairs the Preservation Awards Committee, and is a former director of the Gibson House Museum.
Additionally, he has written a history of the Hampshire House (formerly Bayard Thayer mansion) and contributed to Preview, the bi-monthly publication of the Museum of Fine Arts, and the prestigious New England Quarterly.
Grinold is a member of the Class of 1957 at Bowdoin College and the Class of 1953 at Browne and Nichols Country Day School. He also spent time in the United States Merchant Marine.
In 2008, Grinold and his wife, Cathy, established a $1 million endowment at Northeastern that will benefit men’s rowing. Additionally, the athletics department is raising funds to endow the Grinold Family Scholarship for student-athletes.
To register for the Sept. 10 tribute event, or to make a gift to the Grinold Family Scholarship, visit
www.goNU.com/GrinoldTribute.