Dan George was inducted into the Grace Bible College athletic hall of fame last weekend. Courtesy photo.

Grace Bible College announces the selection of Dan George, Associate Head Coach for Men’s Basketball, to the Grace Bible College Athletic Hall of Fame. Induction ceremonies took place on Saturday, October 18, in the Aldrich Center on campus.

“I am humbled and extremely appreciative of this honor,” said Coach George.

George, a Cedar Springs resident, begins his 10th season with the Tigers in 2014-15. Coach George has a unique connection to the program as he was head coach at Jordan College, and recruited, signed, and coached the Tigers’ Head Coach Gary Bailey in 1978-82. The two have remained friends over the years and Bailey knew who to turn to for assistance, when he took over the helm of the Tigers in 2005. In the nine years the two have been together at Grace, the Tigers have won seven regional championships and five national championships.

“When Gary took the head coaching position at Grace in 2005, I was flattered that he asked me to come help him,” said Coach George. “I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it for a year.’ And then we won a regional and national championship that first year, and I was hooked on working with this team and being a part of the Grace atmosphere. I told Coach Bailey I would stay as long as he wanted me.”

Coach George has served in several capacities over the last nine years. He assisted Coach Bailey with game management and he has always had a passion for teaching and developing defensive skills. He has also teamed with supporting Coach Kent Karnemaat in the team’s “Champions to the Core” initiative. He will continue to assist in all those areas but his focus this year is to pursue a long time passion and team need to develop and implement a new program for game preparation and analysis.

“Dan brings strong leadership skills and great basketball knowledge to our program,” said Coach Bailey, “but it is his passion for assisting young men in the development of character and life skills that we value most.”

Dan played high school ball at Walton Central School (class of 1970) in Walton, New York and college basketball at Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York. He served as athletic director and head basketball coach at Jordan College where his teams were nationally ranked. An avid sportsman and conservationist, Dan enjoys hunting, fishing, and camping and he owns an outdoor adventure consulting/booking business, Quest Expeditions, offering worldwide hunting and fishing adventures. Dan received a B.A. in History from Hartwick College in 1974 and a M.A. in Education from Michigan State University in 1980. He currently serves as the Superintendent/School Leader at Creative Technologies Academy in Cedar Springs, where he lives with his wife, Debi, and son, Hunter, a senior at Creative Technologies Academy. Daughter Dani, is in her freshman year at Indiana Wesleyan University.