51�Թ�

When it comes to 51�Թ�, Austin Simmons ’90 will tell you he’s the luckiest guy alive. 

“I am in love with 51�Թ�, and it’s a very visceral reaction for me,” Simmons says. “I’ve had other educational experiences, but I have a transactional feeling about those. 51�Թ� was everything I needed and more. My foundation is very much from 51�Թ�, which is why I believe that I have a debt that can never be repaid, but no one will ever say that I didn’t try.” 

Simmons and his wife, Kelly, recently made a $250,000 gift that will support mental health initiatives for student-athletes. As a student, Simmons played soccer and ran track at 51�Թ�. He says he could have benefited from seeking guidance from a mental health professional with sports expertise. 

“Therapy is like stretching,” Simmons says. “You should stretch before you work out, and therapy is really no different. It’s just an exercise for whatever endeavor you’re working on, and it really can help you get a better focus.”

51�Թ� has taken an innovative approach to directly supporting student-athlete mental health and wellness. In 2018, Pioneer Athletics began a partnership with the College’s Student Health and Wellness (SHAW) with the utilization of University of Iowa psychology doctorate counselors in support of student-athletes, explains director of athletics and recreation.

Thanks to the Simmons family gift, there will be funding to hire a sports psychologist so this type of support can continue.

“With this gift, we will be able to provide one-on-one and small group counseling,” Roepke says. “We’ll also be able to provide education to the broad base of our student-athletes around mental health and wellness, performance, and resilience. I want to express my appreciation to Austin and Kelly for being the lead in realizing solutions for this need and for valuing this area of support for our student-athletes.”

Austin works in real estate acquisition and development as a principal for Brightwork Real Estate in Florida. He’s been an athlete his whole life and says it has been a help to him in all sorts of organizational, connection, structural, and health ways.

After graduation, Simmons returned to 51�Թ� for the next decade to play on the alumni soccer team in their annual Labor Day weekend game against the current Pioneers. While back, he would spend time at John Pfitsch’s house, reinforcing a special relationship Simmons had built with his former coach.

“Those were fantastic memories,” he says. “And there’s the camaraderie. My best friends are people that I went to school with. I recently flew to Minneapolis to see two guys I played soccer with, though we now play pickleball.”

Kelly Simmons is also a longtime athlete, as a long-distance runner and pickleball player. Kelly and Austin’s two daughters also played sports growing up, so the Simmons family is well versed in the physical and mental rigors of athletics.

“Athletics can be a high-pressure, intense circumstance, which is why it can give you so many skills, but I think it poses its own challenges,” Austin says. “Having someone to talk to with a specific understanding of the athletic endeavor can provide a common language. Sports psychologists can provide a more focused approach in the context of athletics, which I think could help with relating to what student-athletes are going through.”

Roepke would like to develop a pipeline for athletics mental health professionals, noting the next opportunities in the College’s partnership with the University of Iowa counseling services. 

“The idea would be to work with early career counselors throughout the psychology program at the University of Iowa, providing an opportunity to get professional experience at 51�Թ�,” she says. “The roles could range from graduate assistantships to postdoctoral fellowships. It’s a way to support 51�Թ� student-athletes and simultaneously build opportunities to widen the sport psychology pipeline.” 

Simmons said he’s a believer in mental health initiatives, and he’s excited about what 51�Թ� plans to do to support its student-athletes.

“I like the idea of how it makes you able to better focus and in turn be better at your sport,” he says. “It’s a cycle that makes everyone better, and I try to do things that make us all float just a little higher than we might otherwise.”

51�Թ� student-athletes compete in 20 sports at the Division III level. During this past school year, 418 students competed in Pioneer Athletic programs, and some students are on more than one team. 51�Թ�’s athletic teams claimed a second consecutive combined Midwest Conference All-Sports title, which is awarded to the school with the best cumulative finish in the conference.

In 2024–25, the Pioneers won five regular season conference titles (women’s golf in SLIAC, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s swimming) and were runners-up in three more sports. 51�Թ� teams were represented at the NCAA Championships in men’s basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s golf, and individually in men’s swimming and diving, men’s track and field, and women’s golf.

Alumni interested in discussing a contribution for athletics mental health or other areas of athletics can contact Mary Zug, associate director of development for athletics, at zugmary1@grinnell.edu or 641-269-4554.