National Football Foundation

John "Jack" Grinold has served Northeastern University as its sports information director for more than 50 years and was chosen as one of the 100 individuals responsible for the institutions growth and success at NU’s centennial celebration in 1995. Grinold is also on the executive committee of the Northeastern University Varsity Club and in 1985, he became the first non-coach/athlete to be elected to the Northeastern University Athletics Hall of Fame. Grinold retired in 2011 and currently serves as an emeritus Associate Athletics Director.
 
Grinold was the first ever recipient of the New England Sports Information Directors Award for Excellence in 1971, and in 1979 he received the ECAC Service Bureau Award for contributions to the conference. He has served on numerous CoSIDA committees over the years and has chaired the Committee on Committees and the Ethics Committee. He is presently the permanent Vice-chair of the Awards Committee and was formerly on the Board of Directors of CoSIDA. Grinold has won more than 30 CoSIDA awards for publication excellence. In 1994, he was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame, and in 1999 received their Community Service Award. In 2003, he was elected to the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.
 
Grinold has been the chairman of the New England Collegiate Writers Association for the past 38 years. He also is the former president of the Eastern Massachusetts chapter of the National Football Foundation and now serves as its executive director. He was also honored by Boston University as the first non-media person to be the recipient of the Scarlet Quill Award. He has served as a press steward for the Eastern Sprints and the IRA Regattas 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.
 
Grinold 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
 
Aside from the sports world, he has written a history of the Hampshire House and contributed to “Preview,” the bi-monthly publication of the Museum of Fine Arts, and the prestigious “New England Quarterly.” He recently contributed a chapter to “Tradition and Innovation: Reflections on Northeastern University’s First Century,” and segments to “A Century of Sport in Boston.”