Bruce Grinnell '62 has never been afraid to stand alone.
Or stand out.
Whether founding his own Williamstown law firm, portraying the
founding father of Williams College, calling the signals for the
Williams football team or taking on the fraternity system at
Williams or starting up the local ABC program, Grinnell has
immersed himself in both the Williams community and the
Williamstown community with great success.
“I think living in Williamstown has been very fulfilling for
us,” he said. “Judy and I have enjoyed it tremendously.
The advantages of life in a small town are numerous and outweigh
any drawbacks.”
Born in Brooklyn, but raised in Northampton, Grinnell found his
way to Williams in the fall of 1958 after graduating from nearby
Deerfield Academy. Little did he or Williams know it, but the place
would never be the same.
The housing system at Williams was, up until 1962, controlled by
the fraternity system. Grinnell was fortunate to become a member of
Alpha Delta Phi and, in the final semester of his junior year and
the first semester of his senior year, elected its president.
But Grinnell was dismayed by his own observations of the
college's social landscape. Some students at Williams, for
various reasons, were not selected by any fraternity. When that
happened, those students “tended to fall through the
cracks” socially, Grinell said.
One of these students in particular used to work around the Alpha
Delta Phi house, was well-liked and received by all, but not a
member. At one monthly meeting of the fraternity, Grinell, then
president, decided to place on the agenda an item asking to vote
this student into the house officially.
“I remember it well,” Grinnell said. “Three
people came out and said, “I like (said student) but I could
never live in the same house as him. It was the biggest eye opener
for me. This kind of discrimination, I had never seen it before.
That meeting broke up, no vote was taken, and I was
stunned.”
So Grinnell drafted a petition asking Williams College to assume
control of the housing and feeding needs of all its students and
eventually presented it to then president Phineus Baxter in May of
1961. In the fall of the same year, the Angevine Committee was
formed, named after then trustee J.B. Angevine, who chaired it.
“It was all very controversial, and meetings were very
contentious,” Grinnell said. “A large part of the
alumni community was outraged, and some formed a group that
encouraged others not to give (funds) to the college if the system
was changed.”
But eventually, it was changed. In October of 1962, after Grinnell
had graduated, the Board of Trustees drafted a statement which
outlined implementing a plan to transition away from the fraternity
system.
“When I heard, I nearly fell out of my chair,”
Grinnell said.
On the football field, Grinnell was fortunate to have great impact
as well. Despite the fact he was one of five quarterbacks who tried
out for the freshmen team in the fall of 1958, Grinell found
himself as the starting signal caller on the varsity his senior
year.
By the time the final game of the season rolled around –
Amherst, of course – the Ephs were 5-2. The Lord Jeffs came
into the game undefeated at 7-0 and favored. It was only 20 degrees
that November day, but 12,000 people lined Weston Field.
“I remember many of us felt like there was nothing to
lose,” Grinnell said. “I could feel it all week in
practice.”
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| Grinnell makes a stop vs.
Amherst in 1961
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Grinnell, also the place kicker for that year's Ephs, was
so fired up he told a group of his teammates he was going to make
the tackle on the opening kickoff. Sure enough, he did.
“I was never fleet of foot, but I made the tackle on their
six-yard line and that seemed to fire everybody up. We just stymied
them from there. They couldn't block us, they couldn't
stop us. You could not have scripted it any better.”
Williams put an end to Amherst's unbeaten dreams right there
via a 12-0 final.
“It was an out of this world feeling,” Grinnell
said.
After college, Grinnell tried teaching, but eventual wound up at
Boston University Law School, from where he earned his law degree
in 1967. From there he clerked for the Honorable Andrew A. Caffrey,
United States District Court Judge for the District of
Massachusetts. After a year under Judge Caffrey, Grinnell, now
married, moved with Judy to Williamstown and began practicing with
Lawrence Urbano, then the only lawyer in town, according to
Grinnell.
In 1971, he went out on his own, and his firm, today under the
name Grinnell Smith LLP, still stands on Bank Street. He and Judy
raised three children in Williamstown, and even helped start the
local ABC program, which brings academically promising, primarily
minority students, mostly from inner-city neighborhoods, to more
academically rigorous high schools.
You also see him dressed to the nines in 18th century garb from
time to time as Colonel Ephraim Williams. Grinnell has portayed the
founder of the college – and town benefactor -- at several
commemorative events over the years.
Fifty years after first arriving in Williamstown, he's still
standing out.
“I don't have a single regret, it's such a
fabulous community,” Grinnell said.
