CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) announced today that former Wartburg College football student-athlete Owen Grover has been named the A-R-C Duane Schroeder Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the 2023-24 academic year, in the 24th year of the award. The award, the highest individual honor from the conference, goes to an alumnus from the previous academic year. 
 
Grover led the Knights football team to back-to-back national semifinal appearances. He was the Cliff Harris Award Winner and a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy. Grover was named D3football.com National Defensive Player of the Year and a D3football.com, Associated Press, and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) All-American. He holds the Wartburg school record with 364 career total tackles. 
 
In the classroom, Grover carried a 3.9867 cumulative grade point average while majoring in biology and having minors in chemistry and leadership. During his career, he earned College Sport Communicators (CSC) Academic Team Member of the Year after being named a football Academic All-American. He dived into research about the effects of creatine supplementation on mTBI and the effects of in-season and off-season athletics participation on body composition. 
 
In leadership and community service roles, Grover was a Unified Sports Day Leader and volunteered at the Waverly Health Center Emergency Department. He was a rehab volunteer at the Craig Hospital for brain and spinal cord injuries. Grover was a lead volunteer for Wartburg’s TriByKnight and was a Morale Captain for Wartburg Dance Marathon. He was actively involved with Student-Athlete Advisory Commitee (SAAC) at Wartburg and was apart of the Executive Team for Catholic Knights. 
 
"Owen's accolades are innumerable," said Marie Stroman, A-R-C Commissioner. "What is unmeasured is how he uplifts those around him to become their best self. He represents how an athletic career in the A-R-C, paired with the academic and leadership experiences at one of our member institutions, can develop outstanding human beings. Congratulations to Owen for receiving the conference's highest honor."
 
Grover is the first Knight to earn Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year since 2014-15 when Daniel Bonthius earned the honor. Grover is the fourth Knight in history to earn his distinction. 
 
What They Say About Owen Grover
Chris Winter, Wartburg College Head Football Coach: “Grover is a responsible, dependable, self-motivated person. I could always rely on him to do the right thing. He is the type of person who is early for everything and comes prepared every day to get better. I never questioned his readiness at any point in his career. I could count on Grover to give great effort and bring positive energy to the team on a consistent basis. He served as an excellent example to other student-athletes on our team and was a tremendous representative of Wartburg football during his time on campus.”
 
Michael Gleason, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Graduate Studies: “In addition to his involvement in athletics, Grover was committed to enhancing the academic success of his peers as a Chemistry Tutor and IgKnight Mentor. I was most impressed with the amount of time he has committed to engaging in the medical field to enhance his exposure to these types of environments. He interned at the Craig Hospital during his time participating in our Wartburg West program in Denver, Colorado, has served as a Pharmacy Tech Assistant, and has also shadowed a family practitioner. He has volunteered in our local Emergency Department, working with individuals of differing abilities at the Larrabee Center and through Unified Sports Day, and as a Technology Assistant at a retirement center.”
 
Owen Grover: “Throughout my time as a student-athlete at Wartburg College, I have been blessed with numerous opportunities in the classroom, on the football field, and within the community that have ultimately shaped who I am today. I gained leadership experience through roles within the Waverly community and on the football field, I developed time-management skills that are essential to my daily life, and above all I formed meaningful relationships that gifted me the chance to grow into the man that I have become. I would not be where I am today as a student at the Carver College of Medicine pursuing my dream of becoming a physician without the opportunities that I experienced at Wartburg. Balancing athletic participation and my biology degree laid the foundation for this path.”
 
Finalists for the 2023-24 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year were Cael Schmitt of Coe and Max Cleveland of Simpson. 
 
The Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year is selected among the finalists by a vote of the A-R-C Faculty Athletic Representatives (FAR). 
 
About the Scholar-Athlete of the Year Awards
The American Rivers Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards were first presented in December 2001 for the 2000-01 academic year. To be eligible for nomination, a student-athlete shall have graduated or exhausted their athletic eligibility during the academic year for which the award is given. The nominee must have demonstrated a high level of accomplishment and achievement in a varsity sport, have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale), and show evidence of scholarly achievements, community service involvement and leadership. Both awards were named originally for former Wartburg College and Conference sports information director Duane Schroeder in May 2002. The women’s award was renamed in 2013 for former Luther College student-athlete Johanna Olson - the inaugural winner of the women’s award - who lost a courageous battle with cancer in January 2013.
 
About Duane Schroeder 
The American Rivers Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award is named in honor of the late Duane Schroeder, former sports information director (SID) at Wartburg College. Schroeder served as Wartburg’s SID for 43 years until his retirement in 2000. Upon his retirement from his sports information duties, he was named SID Emeritus and served as Wartburg’s News Director until 2001. During much of his four decades at Wartburg, Schroeder served as the Conference’s information director and secretary/treasurer.