HAMILTON — Darrel Grissom filtered through a plethora of stories about his journey as Miami University Hamilton’s baseball coach.
Friends, family, players, coaches and others close to him listened intently for over 25 minutes while the longtime mentor closed a chapter.
“This tops it off,” Grissom said. “It’s basically like a bucket list item. I’ve been wanting to finalize it, and this certainly did it.”
Grissom was inducted into the MUH Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday night during a ceremony held at Miami-Hamilton’s Harry T. Wilks Conference Center.
“I never thought I’d ever be in this situation,” Grissom said. “I never even wanted the job. I was a developer, construction contractor, and I started coaching at Hamilton High when my son was there.”
That’s all it took.
Grissom coached the Harriers from 2000 to 2023 — compiling a record of 723-369 during that 23-year span. Miami-Hamilton won the Ohio Regional Campus Conference championship and state title 17 out of 19 years — making the Harriers one of the most dominant teams in the state of Ohio.
“This gave me everything,” Grissom said. “I felt like I was blessed to be with these kids. I felt like I was put on this earth to help these kids.
“It sounds corny, but maybe it’s not, because I felt like I had a purpose. I didn’t realize it at the time. But my players graduated from college and got great jobs, are great family people, and they’re all doing a wonderful job. I feel like that’s partly because of me.”
Miami-Hamilton joined the United States Collegiate Athletic Association in 2021-22, and Grissom led the Harriers to a national runner-up finish. He was also named National Coach of the Year by the USCAA.
The following season, Grissom was again named Coach of the Year after helping Miami-Hamilton finish third nationally in his final season at the helm.
In 2009, Grissom co-founded and was head coach of the Hamilton Joes of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League — which is a wooden bat league that consists of Major League Baseball’s draft prospects from around the nation.
In 2010, in just their second year of existence, the Hamilton Joes won the GLSCL championship and was ranked 12th in the nation under Grissom’s leadership.
Grissom has since moved from the field to the front office and became the General Manager and eventually the President of the Hamilton Joes as well as President of the entire Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League.
The Joes have won four additional GLSCL titles in 2016, 2021, 2022 and the most recent season in 2024.
Since 2009, the Joes have had over 50 players sign professional contracts, including current Cincinnati Reds pitcher Brent Suter.
“We changed the culture here,” Grissom said. “When I first came here, they had to take seven credit hours. You can’t graduate taking seven hours. That’s ridiculous. I felt like that was embarrassing. So, we made them become a full-time student, and they had to be on target to graduate. If my players weren’t serious, I didn’t want you. That’s how we treated it, and they bought in.”
Grissom said he wished his former longtime assistant coach and best friend Butch Davis would have been able to attend the hall of fame ceremony on Friday. Davis passed away earlier this month.
“I wanted him to be here in the worst way,” Grissom said with emotion. “I wanted him to be up there with me while I talked.
“Butch was the first one I asked to help coach with me.”
Grissom, who enjoys playing golf, is married to his wife of 50 years, Jill. They have three children — Amy Baker, Niki Hudson and Adam Grissom — along with eight grandchildren. His son Adam is a 2016 Miami-Hamilton hall of fame inductee.
James Leisinger (baseball and golf), Ali Stewart (volleyball) and Mike Collins (men’s basketball) joined Grissom as the 2025 induction class.
James Leisinger, baseball and golf
Leisinger began his college years in the fall of 2014 at Miami-Hamilton and ended up as possibly the most decorated student-athlete in the history of the campus as a baseball and golf player. His freshman year, Leisinger pitched his way to a 7-1 record for fellow hall of fame inductee and coach Darrel Grissom.
Leisinger averaged a 71.75 in conference play his senior golf season at MUH and was named Ohio Regional Campus Conference Player of the Year and individual state champion for a fourth consecutive year.
Leisinger earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 2018 and is currently in his fourth year with the Hamilton Police Department. He and his wife just had their first child, their son Kase, this past November.
Ali Stewart, volleyball
Stewart (Graber) arrived at Miami-Hamilton in the fall of 2013 fresh off a successful volleyball career at Fairfield High School. She helped lead the Harriers to ORCC conference championships in 2013, 2014 and 2015. And in 2014, the Harriers were the first volleyball team in school history to win both the conference title and the state title in the same year.
After her playing days, Stewart joined the coaching staff at MUH for two years. In those two years, the Harriers won the ORCC conference championship in 2018 and the state title in 2019.
Stewart is married to her husband Nick — a former standout pitcher for the Miami-Hamilton baseball team — and the two recently welcomed a baby boy. Career-wise she has found a home at KidStrong doing what she loves — coaching, teaching and developing kids.
Mike Collins, men’s basketball
Collins came to Miami-Hamilton in the fall of 2015 from Hughes High School. He helped the Harriers collect two ORCC championships — the first of which was the program’s first conference championship in over 20 years. He also led the team to an ORCC state tournament crown as well.
Collins averaged over 22 points a game as a freshman, finishing First Team all-conference and runner-up in the Player of the Year voting. He scored 24 points a game his sophomore season and was named First Team all-conference and this time earned Player of the Year.
Collins is one of the top scorers in Miami-Hamilton men’s basketball history, amassing close to 1,500 points in his career.
Miami University Hamilton’s list of hall of fame inductees:
2012 — Billy Back, Ed Montgomery and Brad Reckart
2013 — Ryan Maher, Randy Russell, Kerry Hicks and Gabe Folmar
2014 — Ginger Halcomb, Venis Torge Mike Marksbury and the 1993 baseball team
2015 — Vince Richardson, Matt Zettler, Steve Griffith, Sarah Keehner and Laura Collins
2016 — Dick Wells, Glen Smith, Adam Grissom and Gwen Bohman
2017 — Jan Marhefka, Kevin Lakes, Kristi Hodges, Curtis Blank and Chris Trunck
2018 — Kyle Bowlin, Will McCray, Ed McCoy and Christy Schoen Becker
2019 — Bob Rusbosin, Krista Doan, and Kurtis Watkins
2023 — Seth Martin, Bob Werden, Jamie Cogan, Dwayne Terry and Steve Adams
2025 — Darrel Grissom, James Leisinger, Ali Stewart and Mike Collins
