GRINNELL, Iowa - Grinnell College soccer player Evan Larson '25 has been selected as the winner of the 2025 John Pfitsch Endowed Memorial Prize.

The prize goes to a third-year Grinnell student. This fund was established in 2013 with gifts made in memory of Pfitsch and is awarded to a student who embodies the hallmarks of Pfitsch's character, including leadership, passion for Grinnell College, diverse and varied interests, caring and compassion for human beings and high integrity. This is an endowed fund to recognize those individuals who best emulate Pfitsch and his dedication and commitment to Grinnell College for over 50 years.

The late John Pfitsch, whose name has been synonymous with Grinnell athletics since 1948, takes length-of-service honors hands-down. Brought to Grinnell primarily as a basketball mentor, Pfitsch coached or substituted in virtually every sport during a 47-year career. Even after retirement, he directed the men's soccer program.

Previous winners include Utsah Kalra '25, Nina Takashima '24, Austin Mazlish '23, Francesca Dalla Betta '22, Ben Cobin '20, Juliet Torres '19, Nathan Zaroban '18, Cassidy Peterson '17, Sophie Neems '16 and Aamir Walton '15.

Grinnell men's soccer coach Brian Jaworski gave the presentation speech for Larson, eloquently saluting the John and Emily Pfitsch as well as Larson. Jaworski's speech follows below:

"In addition to being a friend of John and Emily Pfitsch, I experienced Coach's leadership, passion for Grinnell, his caring and compassionate ways, the integrity of every interaction and took note of his diverse and varied interests. I am certain that Coach Pfitsch would be extremely impressed with and would celebrate Evan Larson in this moment.

Coach Pfitsch served Grinnell College in a variety of leadership positions. As co-captain of the men's soccer team, Evan has demonstrated athletic/team leadership by organizing off-season training, community service events, facilitator and host of the team book club. As a researcher, Evan designed and led independent research studies in orthopedics, connecting firsthand athletic experiences with injury recovery solutions. And his Academic Leadership is rooted in him prioritizing academics alongside athletics, mentoring underclassmen in STEM courses to support their academic success.

Integrity was a way of life for Coach Pfitsch and it is the same with Evan. On the field, Evan has zero tolerance for disrespect, and he holds himself and teammates to standards of fairness and class. He has been a culture driver for the team from Day #1, helping the team navigate cultural differences, while setting a standard of inclusiveness and accountability. There is no player that I trust more than Evan. There is no player the team trusts more than Evan. He modeled the importance of sacrifice and accountability to the team, which created a collective team spirit that we could overcome challenges. In the classroom and labs, he prioritized honest and rigorous investigations in coursework and research to advance biochemical and bioengineering sciences.

Evan has diverse and varied interests. He prefers to describe his addiction to LEGO's as having an engineering mindset applied to hands-on problem-solving. He loves his Church and has a drive to help others through biomedical research. He has even expressed interest in jumping in the boat with Coach Jaws to fish for muskies this Spring.

Evan and Coach Pfitsch both love Grinnell. He is a phenomenal recruiter for Grinnell College and our men's soccer team doing all the little extra things to help a prospective student and his family feel welcome. He has proudly represented Grinnell by presenting original research at the Orthopedic Research Society Conference and Autumn Immunology Conference, after completing competitive Computational Bioengineering REU and Biomedical Sciences Undergraduate Research program at the University of Iowa. Evan also embodies Grinnell's interdisciplinary approach by integrating biochemistry, biomechanics, and engineering, shaping his future pursuit of a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering.

I am more than proud of Evan, I am honored to be standing here today as his coach. Congratulations!!!"