By Al Rabenold
Long-time Prairie City-Monroe coach Joel Grier was honored at the PCM Co-Ed Invitational Track and Field Meet on Tuesday, April 9.
PCM school officials announced that going forward, this particular track meet will be known as the PCM Joel Grier Classic.
Grier coached track at Monroe or PCM as either the head or assistant coach for the boys’ and girls’ teams for four decades, from 1982 through the current season.
Joel retired from teaching in 2009 but continued to coach both basketball and track. In 2006, at the State Track Meet, he was recognized by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches for 25 years of dedicated service to the track athletes of Iowa.
A Montezuma native, Grier graduated from MHS in 1967. He was a four-sport letterman for the Braves under coaches Darrell Brand, Charles Schulte and Dennis Brand.
After high school Grier ran track and played basketball at Iowa Wesleyan before transferring to Northwest Missouri State College in Maryville, MO., where he graduated with honors.
Grier began his teaching and coaching career just south of the Minnesota border at Buffalo Center, Iowa. He also taught in the Oskaloosa school system before settling in Monroe.
Joel and his wife Jacki Rabenold Grier, who also taught for PCM and Monroe, have two sons, Brad and Bret, who became two of the best three-point shooters in PCM basketball history.
The Griers are both retired now but remain very active in the Monroe community while enjoying their four grandchildren. Joel is the son of Joyce Grier and the late Laverne Grier, former Montezuma residents