NORTH FALMOUTH, Mass. – Jack Grinold, the sports information director at Northeastern University since 1962, received the Pete Nevins Award for Distinguished Achievement at the Eastern College Athletic Conference-Sports Information Directors Association (ECAC-SIDA) Awards dinner on Thursday night in North Falmouth, Mass.
The award honors the memory of Pete Nevins, East Stroudsburg University's sports information director for 33 years (1969-2002), who passed away in January 2007, and is presented to an individual in recognition of their advancement of the field of athletic communications and advocacy for intercollegiate athletics.
Grinold is the third recipient of the award, following Bob Cornell of Colgate University in 2008 and Al Shrier of Temple University in 2009.
An innovator and prime mover in the field of sports publicity during his career over the past half-century, Grinold is the dean of New England sports information directors. He was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame in 1994, received the organization's Community Service Award in 1999, and has been inducted into both the New England Basketball and Hockey Halls of Fame.
He has served as the chairman of the New England Writers Association Football and Hockey banquets since 1964, the secretary of the New England Writers Association since 1964 and is the 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.
Grinold attended 464 consecutive Northeastern football games, home and away, from 1962-2007 and is currently the Associate Athletics Director for Communications. He resides with his wife, Cathy, in Brighton, Mass.
Nevins was inducted to the ESU Athletic Hall of Fame in October 2007 and was decorated with every major award from CoSIDA and ECAC-SIDA during his illustrious career.
He was the second-ever recipient of the Warren Berg Award as the nation's outstanding college division SID and earned the Irving T. Marsh Award in 1986, and was inducted to the CoSIDA Hall of Fame the following year. He also received the Bob Kenworthy Good Person Award from ECAC-SIDA in 2006, which honors a person who shows an exceptional amount of respect for the profession, their fellow SID's, the media and the community.
Nevins was the SID at the University of Bridgeport from 1963-69 and was a sportswriter at the Bridgeport Post-Telegram in Connecticut before coming to East Stroudsburg. He was the beloved husband of Gail Nevins.
Additional awards included the recognition of Steve McCloskey of Mansfield with the Bob Kenworthy Award. The Irving T. Marsh Awards went to Bob Beretta (U.S. Military Academy) in the university division and Kent Cherrington (Plymouth State) in the college division.
