Feb 12, 2017 2 min read

Notice: Undefined offset: 0 in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/includes/single/strategically_placed_photos_article.php on line 412

Notice: Trying to get property 'term_id' of non-object in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/includes/single/strategically_placed_photos_article.php on line 412

WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg University students, some of them in tears, filled a campus chapel Sunday night for a private vigil for a football player who was found dead earlier in the day in his dormitory.

Other students sat in pews praying with bowed heads a half-hour before the prayer service began in Roberts Chapel for Bradley Grinnen, 21, a junior defensive lineman from Ellwood City.

The university was told by authorities Grinnen’s death was not suspicious in nature, said Heidi J. Szuminsky, vice president for institutional advancement and university relations at the Christian college in Waynesburg.

Everyone on campus appeared to be sadden to learn of Grinnen’s unexpected death, said university freshman Lucas Santucci as he walked to the chapel.

“I can tell everybody is down,” said Santucci of New Kensington.

He said many students were “sending out prayers” on social media for Grinnen and his family.

The Rev. Jim Tinnemeyer, university chaplain, sent an email earlier Sunday to students and staff announcing the vigil and ensuring counselors would be available for them if needed, the student newspaper The Yellow Jacket posted on Twitter.

“He was loved by many here,” Tinnemeyer stated. “He will be greatly missed.”

Ali Herr, who was one of Grinnen’s athletic trainers at Lincoln High School in Ellwood Area School District, said he was a “mature leader” whom everyone admired.

“The other kids wanted to be Brad and looked up to him, even more than Brad knew,” Herr said.

“He was a great kid,” she added.

The university was “cooperating fully with the authorities who are investigating the situation,” said Ashley Wise, associate director of university relations.

Greene County Coroner Gregory P. Rohanna said Grinnen was pronounced dead at 11:22 a.m.

Rohanna said Grinnen’s death posed no threat to the university or the Waynesburg vicinity.

The cause of Grinnen’s death in Willison Hall was not immediately known.

Rohanna said the investigation was turned over to Waynesburg police, a department that had no information to release regarding it Sunday.

Grinnen was named first team All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference this past season when he was the Yellow Jackets’ fourth-leading tackler with 48 and led the team with eight quarterback sacks.

Sports editor Chris Dugan contributed to this report.