February 5, 2008

Despite his having passed away more than six months ago, the legacy of former Hawkeye women's track and field head coach James Grant still lives on through the team. It's almost impossible not to; Grant coached at Iowa for 23 years, serving as an assistant for the first 11.

As a tribute, the team members will wear his memory on their sleeves.

Literally.

For the remainder of the season, each athlete will wear a yellow ribbon on her sleeve in memory of their former coach.

"We wanted to have the ribbon to represent something; similar to the Virginia Tech situation," said senior distance runner Molly Esche, who coordinated the design for the team. "We picked yellow because we want it to stick out in contrast to our black jerseys."

Not only was Grant a track coach, he was also a friend and father. This holds especially true for the athletes who are from the Caribbean - Grant was a native of Jamaica.

"He was a coach, a friend, and a father figure," said Renee White, a junior that Grant recruited from Jamaica. "I didn't really have anyone up here to look up to, and he was a person I could look up to."