Jesuit Dallas Athletics

A three-year varsity letterman in football, Dennis Grindinger played in three district playoff games and two state title games, culminating his senior year when he was a tri-captain on the football team that brought home the TCIL state championship for the first time in seven years (1967). 

An all-state and Catholic All-American player his senior year, Dennis also lettered three years in basketball and served three years on student council. In 1975 he was awarded the Leo M. Ostdick Award as the top scholar-athlete in hi class (featured in Time magazine on March 3, 1975) and was selected as a finalist for the Teenage Citizen Tribute awarded by the Dallas Morning News. 

Awarded a four-year scholarship to Notre Dame, he appeared in three post-season bowls – the 1976 Gator Bowl and the 1977 and 1978 Cotton Bowl – and was a member of the 1977 NCAA Championship team. Dennis’ first career catch with the Fighting Irish went for a touchdown, and as a starter his senior year, helped the Joe Montana-led Irish to a 9-2 season, including a memorable comeback in the “Ice Bowl” in which fellow Jesuit Dallas graduate, Joe Unis ’76 kicked the winning PAT with no time on the clock.