BALTIMORE, MD – Johns Hopkins Director of Athletics and Recreation Jennifer S. Baker announced today that Neil A. Grauer and Irv and Cathy Litofsky have been selected as the recipients of the department's Distinguished Service Award.  They will be honored at the University's 2020 Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, which is scheduled for Saturday, March 28.
 
The Johns Hopkins Athletic Hall of Fame Committee determined in 2016 that an award for Distinguished Service to the Department of Athletics & Recreation should be presented to an appropriate candidate or candidates at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony.  The award does not need to be presented at each induction and its presentation is at the discretion of the committee.
 
Criteria for the award are as follows:
•  Outstanding contributions and/or service to the Department of Athletics & Recreation.
•  Contributions/service should be documented over a length of time not less than 10 years.
•  Award may be presented to a Johns Hopkins graduate, the parent of a graduate or friend of Johns Hopkins Athletics & Recreation.

Tickets
Individuals wishing to attend the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony may purchase tickets online here.
 
Neil A. Grauer
A 1969 Johns Hopkins graduate, Neil A. Grauer is a beloved member of the Blue Jay athletics family.  One of the most dedicated Johns Hopkins fans and a third generation Johns Hopkins graduate, his famous Blue Jay artwork, better known as the "NAG Jay," served as the official logo of the Department of Athletics from 1966 through 1995.
 
As a freshman in 1966, he was on the staff of the News-Letter, the student newspaper at Johns Hopkins, when he was asked to create a cartoon Blue Jay to comment on campus affairs. Grauer's cartoon character soon migrated to the sports pages – and subsequently was used on team uniforms, athletic department publications and stationary and promotional material throughout the University.  His artwork gained additional visibility through the Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse program when the team appeared on national, regional and local television.  The iconic figure became synonymous with the Blue Jay lacrosse program. In 1983, Grauer was presented with the Richardson Award, which is bestowed annually for outstanding service to the Blue Jay lacrosse program.
 
Among Hopkins lacrosse players, perhaps Grauer's biggest claim to fame has been his individual, custom-designed NAG Jay drawings that for decades he has presented to every member of the men's lacrosse team at graduation.  Each is adorned with the player's jersey number and often characteristics unique to that player.  At the request of current lacrosse coaches Dave Pietramala, Bill Dwan and Bobby Benson, all Johns Hopkins graduates themselves, the team has continued to include the NAG Jay on a number of its new helmets over the last 15 years.
 
A noted journalist and author of 10 books, Grauer also collaborated with Pietramala on the second edition of "Lacrosse:  Technique and Tradition," originally written by legendary Johns Hopkins coach Bob Scott in 1976 and completely updated by Pietramala and Grauer 30 years later in 2006.

While Grauer's NAG Jay is no longer the official logo for Blue Jay athletics, the Department of Athletics recently commissioned him to create 24 Blue Jay cartoons, one for each of the University's 18 varsity sports, along with general-use versions that are being used in a variety of ways.  This ensures that Grauer's legacy will be enjoyed by generations of Blue Jays to come.
 
Irv and Cathy Litofsky
A staple at every home and away Johns Hopkins football and men's lacrosse game is the University's pep band, which was founded in the early 1920s by Conrad "Gebby" Gebelein.  Nearly 100 years later, its two most tenured members are the husband-wife duo of Irv and Cathy Litofsky, who have logged more than 90 combined years with the band.
 
Irv Litofsky, a 1973 Johns Hopkins graduate, arrived at Homewood in the fall of 1969 and joined the band shortly after.  After graduating, he came back the following fall for football season – and has never left.  Now 50 years since his first lacrosse season, Litofsky has seen the Blue Jays win nine NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championships and play in 18 title games; in football, he's seen the Blue Jays make the jump to the national power they've become in the last 10 years.
 
Six men's lacrosse and six football coaches have patrolled the sidelines for the Blue Jays since 1969 and hundreds of young men and women have arrived as freshmen, filtered their way through the band for four years and moved on; for more than 50 years, Irv Litofsky has been the constant.
 
Irv was joined in the band by now-wife Cathy in 1976.  Cathy, a student at nearby Goucher when she and Irv met, has become the second-longest active tenured member of the band and she herself will enter her 44th lacrosse season in February.  Together, they've logged tens of thousands of miles to away games, sat through wins and losses, rain, wind, snow and blistering heat.  Never has there been a thought of not continuing.
 
The Litofsky's have mentored countless members of the band through the years, have become close friends with members of the lacrosse and football programs and have built their Saturdays in the fall and spring around Blue Jay athletics.  Their two daughters, sons-in-law and two grandchildren have joined them on gameday regularly for years and are visible near where Irv and Cathy can be found in the band section at Homewood Field just behind the home bench.
 
This the latest in a long line of honors for Irv, who was awarded the lacrosse program's Richardson Award for outstanding service to the team in 2009 and had the Theta Epsilon Chapter of Sigma Nu – Irvin B. Litofsky Endowment created by friends and family in 2016.  The endowment's purpose is to promote school spirit by encouraging Johns Hopkins students and alumni to attend athletic events.  Bus trips to away games, giveaways and tailgates are just a few of the initiatives the endowment supports.
 
When students and alumni venture to Homewood Field for a lacrosse game this spring, they'll be treated to a Hopkins tradition that is just shy of a century old; a pep band whose mantra is "forcing merriment and MAYHEM since 1921."  Leading the way will be its two most recognizable figures – Irv and Cathy Litofsky.