James Gronninger
American lawyer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Davis Gronninger (January 15, 1880 – January 30, 1944) was an American attorney, baseball player, manager, and league president.
Early years
Gronninger was born at Lucasville, Ohio, in January 1880.[1][2] His parents John and Rachel Gronninger were both Ohio natives.[3] At the time of the 1900 United States census, Gronninger was working as a laborer in a rolling mill in Ohio.[3]
West Virginia University
Gronninger played college baseball at West Virginia University starting no later than 1903.[4][5] He was the captain of West Virginia's 1906 team.[6] He was a multi-sport athlete at West Virginia and also served as captain of the West Virginia Mountaineers basketball team.[7]
Baseball coach and executive
Gronninger received his law degree (Bachelor of Laws) from West Virginia in June 1906.[8][9] He remained in Morgantown, West Virginia, as the coach of the school's baseball team.[6] He also served as the manager of the Uniontown Coal Barons in 1906, leading them to a Pennsylvania–Ohio–Maryland League championship.[10] He served as the president of the Class-D Pennsylvania–West Virginia League in 1908 and 1909.[11][12][13]
Legal and civil service career
After retiring from baseball, Gronninger became a lawyer. In 1917, he was the chief clerk in the office of West Virginia Secretary of State.[14] By September 1918, he was the Assistant Secretary of State of West Virginia.[2] In 1921, he had the second highest salary ($2,750) in the Secretary of State's Office behind the Secretary of State.[15] In 1923, he was in charge of enforcing West Virginia's securities laws and prosecuting stock fraud.[16] Gronninger in his later years was a lawyer with a general practice at Charleston, West Virginia.[17] He died at Huntington, West Virginia, in January 1944 at age 63.[18]