Kansas offensive line coach J.B. Grimes talked about his upcoming induction into the Henderson State Hall of Fame later this year. He played at HSU from 1973-76.

Throughout his football playing life, Kansas University offensive line coach J.B. Grimes got used to being the guy who looked a little out of place at his position.

Standing no taller than 5-foot-9 and weighing less than 200 pounds throughout high school, Grimes used grit and tenacity to earn a spot on his prep team’s offensive line. When his high school career ended, Grimes wasn’t done playing football. The problem was, not many schools were in the market for an offensive lineman his size.

“Coming out of high school, I really wanted to play some more football because I loved it,” he said. “I love it to this day. But I knew that nobody was gonna recruit me. Heck, I wouldn’t have recruited me. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I know what I’m looking for. I ain’t coaching guys like me, I can tell you that right now.”

Still, Grimes persisted.

After visiting three small colleges in his native state of Arkansas, the choice was clear to Grimes thanks to the efforts of a head coach at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Ark., named Ralph “Sporty” Carpenter.

“First of all, no one would even talk to me at the other two schools,” Grimes said. “But at Henderson, I went in there and I looked around and I saw that there were some players out there. As I was leaving, Sporty brought me in and he talked to me. Basically, that’s how I decided to go there. A.) I knew they were gonna win because even back then I could recognize talent. And, B.) The man took some time with me. Him taking that time to visit with me was the reason I went there.”

All these years later, that one conversation that sold Grimes on HSU can be deemed responsible for one of the greatest honors of Grimes’ life — induction into the Henderson State University Hall of Honor.

The official ceremony will take place Sept. 24 at the HSU campus. As luck would have it, the Jayhawks are off that week, and Grimes will be able to attend.

“I’ve been on this ballot for a while,” Grimes said. “But one of the things that they want you to do is they want you to be there for the induction, and that’s been difficult for a guy in my profession. I’m really looking forward to going back. It’s such an honor.”

Grimes played guard on the HSU offensive line from 1973-76. He was a three-time conference champion and earned all-conference honors during the 1976 season. While Grimes was in uniform, the Reddies won 40 games and played for an NAIA national championship, feats for which Grimes takes very little credit.

“I played on some great football teams,” he said. “But I was a small cog in that.”

After leaving HSU, Grimes set out into coaching. Carpenter helped set him up in the profession, and Grimes landed his first job at Nashville (Ark.) High in 1977. He spent 32 of the next 33 years coaching the game he loves, sitting out only in 2009, the same year he heard from coach Turner Gill about a job at Kansas.

Grimes has seen it all during his coaching career, a journey that’s taken him from high school to Div. I, including stops at Arkansas, East Carolina, Mississippi State, Missouri, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech.

“I’m a walk-on coach,” he said. “I’m one of those guys that had to go up through the ranks. I didn’t have a whole lot going for me coming out of college because it was a little-bitty school, and no one knew who J.B. Grimes was. But I’ve managed to hook up with the right people and have a lot of luck, and I’ve been taught some things.”

While those things range from how to game-plan against opposing defense to how to use proper technique in the trenches, Grimes said one of the most important lessons he learned came from Carpenter at Henderson State.

“Coach Carpenter was such a personable guy,” he said. “He just made you feel at home when you sat in his office. And I’ve always tried to treat people like that. To me, all this stuff that we do is relationship-oriented anyway.”