Grinnell College Athletics

Dan LaFountaine ’09 became the first men's tennis player in Grinnell history to earn All-America honors, along with his doubles partner, Nate Fox ’09. LaFountaine and Fox were the first Grinnellians to ever secure a victory in NCAA Division III tournament play. LaFountaine also qualified for the NCAA Singles Championship in 2007, and was a four-time team Midwest Conference Champion. He and Fox won three Midwest Conference doubles crowns, and LaFountaine also won a singles title. Under his leadership, the Pioneers dominated league play with an incredible 124-4 record for individual matches; he and his teammates captured 29 MWC individual titles out of a possible 36. Twice during LaFountaine’s career, the netmen advanced to the round of 32 in the NCAA regional tournament; and during his time the Grinnell program became a permanent fixture as a top-15 team in the Intercollegiate Association Central Region rankings. LaFountaine, who compiled an 86-13 career singles mark as a Pioneer, claimed numerous awards, including the Morgan Taylor ’26 Memorial Award for Outstanding Senior Athlete in a Single Sport, and he earned Phi Beta Kappa academic honors as a junior. A career highlight would certainly be crushing nationally-ranked Robin Borg, the son of professional tennis star Bjorn Borg, 6-2, 6-0. LaFountaine graduated from Grinnell with an independent major in international relations.  After Grinnell, he made plans to create a tennis academy to promote tennis in New Mexico. He was very active in spreading his love of tennis, through volunteering as a part-time coach and chaperone on tennis team spring break trips and assisting in recruiting for Grinnell tennis. Away from the court he was a director of operations in the home health care field; during his short career (he died in 2013), he hired two Grinnell graduates and guided five former teammates as they interned in the business.