Stevi Large Gruber's athletic ability and attitude stood out to Brian Forrester about 20 years ago when the longtime coaching guru in track and field throwing events scouted her at a Sheridan High School girls basketball game.
“I believe I watched her get a rebound, come down, throw some elbows and give a girl stitches,” Forrester told the Beacon Journal last week during a phone interview.
Forrester explained he values aggression in throwers, and Gruber showed plenty of it on the basketball court. He recruited her to the University of Akron, where she redshirted and developed en route to becoming a four-time first-team All-American and eventually the 2009 NCAA Division I outdoor champion in the women's hammer throw.
Gruber , 38, will be honored for her accomplishments Oct. 1 when she's inducted into the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame during a banquet in Akron .
“It's crazy to look back now,” Gruber said last week by phone. “It seems like a lifetime ago, but it's such a cool experience. It's just exciting now that I have kids. I can be like, 'Look! Look what you can do.'”
Gruber met her husband, C.J. Gruber, during study tables at UA. She's a former throwing star, and he's a former football player. Their children, Landon, 9, Emmarie, 6, and Knox, 4, combine to compete in football, wrestling, baseball, soccer and T-ball in the Lancaster area. Mom and dad coach most of those sports.
After Gruber captured her national title in 2009, she trained for the Olympics until she suffered a back injury while working out with a safety squat bar. She traveled down the comeback trail, consulting doctors and chiropractors along the way, yet it didn't work out.
“But it was a blessing in disguise because my husband and I got married and got to start our family a little bit earlier,” she said.
Now Gruber juggles mom duties with her job as an office manager and estimator at Kumler Collision and Automotive in Lancaster.
When Forrester visited Gruber's home two years ago, she cooked him venison meatballs from a deer she had hunted and sent him on his way with homemade tomato sauce and maple syrup.
“I've seen a lot of kids go through the University of Akron, and I'm most proud of who she became after she graduated,” said Forrester, whose 21-year tenure as a Zips coach ended in 2022. “She's a fantastic mom and very successful.”
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Hard work has long been a central theme of Gruber's story.
Gruber said she arrived at UA on a partial scholarship covering $5,000 in tuition, plus textbooks. Earning a full scholarship motivated her, and it came to fruition as she transitioned from her sophomore year to junior year.
Gruber captured nine individual Mid-American Conference championships and became the first female in conference history to complete a career sweep in a field event, winning the hammer throw all four times (2006-09). She was a thrower in high school, but she didn't compete in the hammer throw until her Zips days. She's in the Sheridan athletics, UA sports and MAC halls of fame.
Commitment made a difference throughout her track and field journey.
“In Division I, everyone's talented,” Forrester said. “But I think with a little chip on your shoulder and work ethic and the right program, a person can really blossom into something special.
“Stevi would be a great example of that. She's from the country. Her family wasn't wealthy by any means. She had responsibilities. She took that work ethic into collegiate athletics.”
Gruber said she gained “farm strength” while she was raised in Somerset. Although she didn't live on a farm, she grew up helping her father with chores on farms owned by her grandmother and great-uncle.
“I just always had that mentality of, 'Might as well do it yourself,'” Gruber said. “And if that involves lifting heavy objects, then you're going to do it.”
Her older brother by three years, Brandon, and several male cousins contributed to her toughness, too.
“I was the tomboy,” Gruber said. “I was [like], 'You want to mess with me? I'll wrestle you until I win.'”
Tenacity helped Gruber achieve the highlight of her throwing career.
In March 2009, Gruber held a lead for the NCAA indoor national title in the weight throw until the final round. She finished runner-up.
“That was pretty devastating,” Forrester said.
Then in June 2009, Gruber rebounded in the NCAA outdoor championships and upset USC's Eva Orban, the 2008 NCAA outdoor hammer throw champ and a three-time Olympian with Hungary. On college track and field's biggest stage, Gruber produced two personal bests, finishing with a throw of 223 feet, 4 inches.
Nothing about claiming a national title was easy. A tornado warning had caused a four-hour interruption in the meet and tested the focus of all the athletes who vied for NCAA crowns at the University of Arkansas. Gruber and Forrester dined at a nearby Ruby Tuesday during the downtime.
“Our biggest fear was with that break that I wouldn't have the momentum to move forward,” Gruber said. “I threw my best throw coming back and beat someone who I thought that I would never beat.”
The performance capped a legendary Zips career, paving the way toward the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame .
Ticket information for the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony and banquet in Akron
Gruber, Shawn Barber, James Harrison, Joe Heskett, LaShauntea Moore, Shawn Porter, Jason Taylor and Antoine Winfield Sr. will be inducted into the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame this fall.
In addition to the inductees, recipients of the Ed Kalail Volunteer Award (Rob Culbertson), Phil Dietrich Senior Athlete Award (Gene Kelly) and Andy Palich Memorial Service Award (Marla Ridenour) will be honored during the Summit County Sports HOF's 66th induction ceremony and banquet.
The event will be held Oct. 1 at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 129 S. Union St., Akron. A social/cocktail hour is scheduled to run from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Then the program and dinner will begin.
Tickets for the induction ceremony and banquet may be purchased online at akronroundtable.org .
Donations to the Summit County Sports HOF's Bruce Buchholzer scholarship fund can be made by visiting www.summitcountyshof.org/donations and clicking the link at the bottom of the page to the Akron Community Foundation's website .
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Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. He is on the Summit County Sports HOF's board of directors. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron legend Stevi Large Gruber hopes Summit County Sports Hall of Fame inspires her kids
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