Campus Gathers To Remember PEC (1971-2010)
Students embrace during a Grief and Loss event with CRSSJ for those close to the deceased.
SMITH FUNERAL HOME – Members of the College and surrounding community gathered Thursday to mourn the loss of the ugliest building on campus. Student athletes and other bereaved friends and neighbors remember the Physical Education Complex as a selfless, generous facility with a strong smell of feet and chlorine. According to the autopsy, the PEC died peacefully in its sleep late Tuesday night.
“I’ll never forget the time the PEC started booing Beloit’s tennis team and all of North Campus joined in,” said head football coach Jeff Pedersen ’02. “And it was great in intramural volleyball.”
The PEC was long a fixture in extra-curricular activities at Grinnell, helping out with student organizations, introducing first-years to 2:00AM bakery runs, and writing the occasional column in the Scarlet & Black.
“Such warmth of spirit, and a commitment to excellence in athletics within the context of a liberal arts education,” said former Grinnell College President Russell K. Osgood ’10. “And it threw great parties. Absolutely terrific parties.”
Friends say the PEC suffered from a spectator seating deficiency, a malignant water polo team, and a leaky pool, and struggled to function for years until a few weeks ago when it took a turn for the worse. The PEC was quarantined from campus and used an oxygen tank in its final weeks. After a long legal battle, the building was finally laid to rest when the Trustees decided to pull the plug.
“Remember the look on its face when it got a bit part in ‘Star Wars Grinnell?’” said Samantha Cordry ’11, captain of the women’s track team. “That was priceless. It always wanted to be in a Tit Head film.”
“I miss that sack of bricks,” added Cordry.
The PEC was born in 1971 to proud parents Glenn Leggett and the Board of Trustees, grew up in a quiet Grinnell neighborhood on 10th Avenue, and left in 1989 to pursue a degree in Anthropology at Iowa State University before returning to campus. While the PEC enjoyed several decades as a mentor to thousands of Grinnellians, it kept procrastinating its thesis and never completed its master’s degree in Comparative Literature. In its later years, it developed a close friendship with Rathje Hall and Political Science Professor Wayne Moyer.
“It lived a full life, but it never did get to take that vacation to Paris it talked about for years,” said Greg Wallace, Director of Athletics and Recreation.
The family is holding a wake on Mac Field at 2:30PM, Saturday, November 20, before leaving with a police escort to the crematorium. The eulogy will be delivered by College Chaplain Deanna Shorb.
The PEC is survived by Darby Gym, Rosenbloom Field, and a basketball hoop in some first-year’s room.
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