True Student-Athletes:

Grinnellians succeed on the field, in the classroom, at work

Published:
March 20, 2014

Perry Beeman

When Grinnell guard Jack Taylor ’15 punctuated the 2013–14 basketball season with his second 100-point-plus game in two years, the world’s media again took notice. The year before, Taylor set an NCAA record with 138 points, so his face, and his shooting style, were familiar around the globe. His playing style has graced Good Morning America, Today, and Jimmy Kimmel Live

A few of the accounts, though not many, stressed an important substory. Taylor is part of a Grinnell tradition of true student-athletes, players who are on campus as much because of the College’s widely recognized academic excellence as they are because they are good, or great, at basketball, swimming, or track.

Recalls Taylor: “After the 138 (points), a couple of articles came out that said the most impressive thing is that I attend Grinnell College.” He plans to take advantage of Grinnell’s academic excellence by attending medical school eventually.

He won’t be the first to set soaring goals. Pioneer athletic stars include an Olympic   gold medalist who went into retail, a physics and math  major whose educational and whimsical videos went viral on the Internet, and a California rheumatologist, just to mention a few.

Many student-athletes credit Grinnell’s roster of famed coaches and mentors for superior and caring mentoring and guidance that helped them soar, on and off the court or field.

Among them is current and famed basketball coach David Arseneault, architect of The System, the platoon-style, high-scoring strategy that brought international attention to Grinnell and to Taylor and his teammate, Patrick Maher, holder of the national record for assists.

Ray Obermiller, who often spoke of how sports enriched students academically, coached swimming and diving teams to 20 championships in a 29-year career. He also was the College’s first director of academic advising and testing, a position he held for 25 years. John Pfitsch spent several decades coaching virtually every sport — starting with basketball and tennis — and also served as athletic director. Pfitsch was fond of reciting his former players’ successes in business, law, medicine, teaching, research, and coaching. Current athletic director Greg Wallace, the former football coach, is an associate professor of physical education. His assistant, Andy Hamilton ’85, is the tennis coach. Many Grinnell coaches over the years also have taught at the university.

Will and Evelyn Freeman logged dozens of championships since 1980 as track and field and cross country coaches, and relish their students’ accomplishments outside of sports.

 “I think that is what Grinnell has taught me, that sport plays a role in a much bigger picture, in the individual developing as a human being,” says Will, who competed in Olympic Trials as a pole-vaulter out of the University of Florida. “It’s really taught me about human capacity and capability.”

The storied student-athletes below praised their coaches’ work to teach time management, perseverance, teamwork, dedication, and graciousness, among other life skills.

F. MORGAN TAYLOR ’26

Olympic gold medalist.

Retail manager.

Perhaps Grinnell’s most famous athlete, certainly from the pre-Twitter days, track and field star and hurdling specialist Taylor won medals in three Olympic Games. He took gold in Paris in the 1924 games, setting a record in the process. He won bronze in Amsterdam in 1928 and again at Los Angeles in 1932, after carrying the U.S. flag in at the beginning of the games.

Taylor still holds the Grinnell record in the long jump, with a leap of 25 feet, 2 inches. Coached by Harry J. Huff in track, he also was a receiver on the football team.

He began his career selling ads for the Chicago Tribune, and went on to a long stint in retail, much of it with Marshall Field’s department stores, where he started by filling orders and wrapping packages before working his way into management. He also represented International Harvester in Europe.

CHRISTINE THORBURN ’92

Champion runner.

Olympic cyclist.

Rheumatologist.

A conference champion in cross country under coach Evelyn Freeman, Thorburn went to Nepal on a Fulbright Scholarship after graduation, then attended medical school at Stanford. After developing knee problems, she turned to cycling and made the Olympic team. She narrowly missed a spot on the medal stand, but was the U.S. women’s time trial champion in 2004 and competed in the Olympics that year and in 2008. She later became a professional cyclist.

Thornburn, a Grinnell chemistry major, is a rheumatologist at Palo Alto Medical Foundation in California, cycling for fitness but not competition. Now serving as department chair and leader of the Physician Leadership Development Committee, she has never forgotten the power of Grinnell’s academics.

 “Although it may sound cliché by now, it is absolutely true that a liberal arts education at Grinnell College, irrespective of major of study, provides the most important skills for a successful career: effective writing and speaking skills and critical-thinking skills to not only be able to ask the appropriate questions, but then to know how to pursue solving them,” Thorburn says.

And it wasn’t just the quality of the classes, she adds.

 “Of equal importance were the close relationships built with faculty that allowed for more in-depth professional exploration while on campus and then provided the all-important personalized letters of recommendation for the next phase of study.”

Thornburn discovered that her Grinnell experiences had provided something far more powerful than championships.

“Spending four years with an incredibly talented and diverse group of fellow students also pushed me to consider a slightly atypical academic pathway and a focus on serving others throughout life — far more important than titles and awards in the long term,” Thorburn adds.

JACK TAYLOR ’15

Basketball star.

Biochemistry major.

Future doctor.

Despite all the publicity surrounding his quick-release shots, many from three-point range, Taylor has other things on his mind as graduation approaches.

He’s a biochemistry major and, though he still has a year left at Grinnell, he’s already decided he will pursue medical school — after he takes care of one lingering basketball goal.

“I want to play in Europe for a couple of years, then go to medical school,” Taylor says.

And, yes, he realizes that setting the books aside for that long could pose an academic challenge when he enrolls in a medical school. “I’ll take the MCATs before I go to Europe,” he says, flashing a wide smile at the thought of the admission exam.

Taylor says he is getting good preparation for those exams, and for medical school at an accessible school with an enjoyable climate.

  “The professors have doors that are a lot more open,” Taylor says. “I’ve really enjoyed getting to talk to them about things in class, and about things outside of class. I came from a large state school, and it wasn’t like that.

“The relationships you can built with professors and others in class really help,” Taylor says. “I am a name here, not a number.”

Classes have emphasized skills essential to excelling in graduate school, but Grinnell also allows students to study a broad range of topics. Taylor enjoyed economics and philosophy, for example.

“In addition to the critical thinking, the wide range of things that you learn with a liberal arts education is something that will benefit me later,” Taylor adds.

When Taylor leaves campus, he’ll cherish the education he received and the basketball that provided exercise, camaraderie, teamwork, and a different kind of achievement. And he’ll eventually focus on the academics — no surprise even to sportswriters and other journalists around the globe.

VERONIKA PLATZER ’87

National discus champion.

World-class rower.

Coach.

A star discus-thrower and shot-put specialist, “Ronnie” Platzer became a three-time NCAA discus champion. Of course, she set school records along the way.

In 1991 Ronnie was recognized as one of the top women athletes during the first decade of NCAA women’s competition. After fighting off lymphoma, Platzer switched to rowing, making the national team. She represented the United States in World Cup races from 1993–97 as well as in the 1993 World Championships.

Coached by Will and Evelyn Freeman, she was voted the NCAA’s Female Track and Field Athlete of the Decade for the ’80s and was inducted into the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Platzer discovered the power of Grinnell academics in a way decidedly different than some other Grinnellian student-athletes. The classes nearly overwhelmed her, but ultimately provided some world-class character-building she treasures to this day.

“While I had an amazing athletic career at Grinnell, my academic career was fraught with ongoing confidence crises and struggles,” Platzer recalls. “I barely kept one nostril above the water, much less my whole head.

“But, there was one particular class that both encapsulated my academic career as well as served as a constant personal and professional inspiration,” she adds. Roman History and Civilization. She signed up mainly to earn credits toward graduation.

 “However, I also noted that is was taught by the indomitable Professor Ed Phillips, an unapologetic perfectionist,” Platzer recalls.

She could run, but she couldn’t hide.

“I was way out of my league in this class,” Platzer says. “I had no prior knowledge of Roman history and everything I read felt excruciatingly difficult to decipher, much less understand. Every paper I submitted barely registered a passing grade and my contribution to class discussion left me feeling dumb and useless.”

Then, a turning point. The class read and analyzed Virgil’s The Aeneid, which tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy after the fall of Troy and founded the Roman culture.

Platzer got it. “The lightbulb finally went off and ultimately inspired my best written work. In fact, I ran to Professor Phillips’ office to hand-deliver my final essay, breathlessly thanking him and, incredulously, asked him to read my paper, right there on the spot. Naturally, he declined, but his congratulatory hug let me know that he understood my small, hard-earned victory.

 “I carried this lesson with me throughout my post-Grinnell athletic career and current profession as a coach,” Platzer notes. “Coaching is all about chipping away at the word ‘impossible,’ and there is no doubt that my Grinnell academic experience fuels the passion and work ethic to show athletes how to achieve success amid seemingly impossible odds.”

HENRY REICH ’09

Cross country star.

Academic All-America.

Creator of Internet physics craze.

Reich has the distinction of amassing 8.9 million hits for a YouTube video. His MinutePhysics clips on Twitter and YouTube have been highly popular. He uses time-lapse photographs and stick figures drawn on a simple sketchbook to bring complex science questions home to the viewer.

His take on what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object is closing in on 9 million hits on YouTube.

MinutePhysics is so popular that Reich teamed with his brother, Alex Reich ’11, another Grinnellian athlete of note, to create MinuteEarth, the story of our planet. Name aside, the segments sometimes are two to three minutes long.

Reich not only earned a degree in physics and math, but posted the highest grade-point average in his class, winning the Archibald Prize.

He also was a conference champion and national qualifier in cross country, coached by Will Freeman.

Reich now realizes how valuable his Grinnell days, in the classroom and on the running routes, were to his budding career.

Reich credits Freeman for just the right amount of guidance. “Will helped us set high goals for ourselves and figure out how to achieve those goals, but ultimately he stepped back to let us take ownership of our training and team and make it our own,” Reich says.

“It would be safe to say that Grinnell set me up excellently for life after Grinnell, though in some ways I did not know it at the time,” Reich says.

“The real kicker was the writing education I got. I was lucky enough to be placed in a tutorial with Elizabeth Dobbs, hands down the best teacher of nonfiction writing I have ever met,” Reich says. “Her tutorial transformed my writing by giving me the tools to understand why and how stories and arguments are structured and how to fix them if they’re not working. Given that I now make a living explaining complicated science concepts in two-minute videos, I can’t overstate the importance of what I learned about writing at Grinnell.”

Reich’s appreciation of sports and Grinnell did create some tough decisions. He decided to skip a Rhodes Scholarship interview in favor of joining his teammates at the NCAA national meet, the College’s first appearance in 16 years.

Still, academics were on his mind. “I was equally proud that we had the highest average grade-point average of any Division III men’s cross country team in the nation. That, if anything, speaks of our dedication both to running and academics, and shows that sports and school don’t have to compete. They can build on each other.”

KATE FURNISH ’89

Record-setting swimmer.

Spanish major.

Physical therapist.

Furnish was a conference-champion swimmer who qualified for the national meet, setting a school record of 24.27 in the 50-yard freestyle while placing fourth. The 1988 record still stands. She was coached by Sheila Cain.

Furnish excelled in class, too. In her fourth year, Furnish received the President’s Medal for academic achievement, extracurricular activity, and service to campus and community. She now is a physical therapist in Anthem, Ariz.

“I was pushed toward excellence,” Furnish recalls. “My writing, speaking, and thinking were held to a high standard. These were questioned not only by my instructors, but also by my fellow students. My opinions became considered and developed. My learning deepened.”

There were more life lessons. “I learned basics of time management, coordinating a schedule to accommodate multiple demands, and how to stretch mentally, physically, and emotionally. The rigor, the high standard, is essential in this learning. The skills I developed are foundational to everything I do professionally and personally.”

Furnish studied Spanish, which she uses regularly. She used her language training while earning a graduate degree in the sciences, by treating the technical terms she had to learn as though she were still learning a new language.

“Grinnell was a complete life experience for me — one that tested and affected my heart, soul, body, and brain,” she says. “The rigor of Grinnell is not the challenging curriculum; it is an experience. It’s an experience, that, when you plant yourself in it, your roots grow deep and that allows your branches to expand in many directions.

“I am not sure how one cannot become immersed in the Grinnell experience, because it does require that, and so, produces its fruit,” Furnish says. “For me, I loved the coupling of academics and athletics and the way they balanced each other. Each improved my performance in the other.”

MICHAEL BRUS ’14

Record-holding swimmer.

Chemistry major.

Future physical therapist.

A national record holder, Brus earned his fourth trip to the NCAA national championships this year, where he was scheduled to swim both backstroke and freestyle events. Coached by Erin Hurley and Tim Hammond, he set a national record in the 200-yard backstroke while winning last year’s title in that event.

Brus has his eyes on a career in physical therapy and possibly coaching. He says Grinnell’s exceptional classroom instruction helped prepare him to reach for professional accomplishments, too.

“Grinnell’s academic rigor has made me a much more efficient person,” Brus says. “When the academics are paired with varsity athletics, I had to be very careful with my time.”

You know what they say — if you need something done, find a busy person. They learn how to deliver.

“I have been able to do some cool things while still being very academically invested,” Brus says. That included swimming in the national championships and the Olympic Trials, completing a summer Mentored Advanced Project in chemistry, and working with “an amazing faculty” while interacting with “the most incredible friends.”

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