James Davis Gronninger was an American attorney, baseball player, manager, and league president.

Early years

Gronninger was born at Lucasville, Ohio

Lucasville, Ohio

Lucasville is a census-designated place in Scioto County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,588 at the 2000 census. The village of Lucasville was laid out by Captain John Lucas in June 1819 and recorded August 7, 1819. Captain Lucas built the first tavern in the village and kept it until...

 in January 1880. His parents John and Rachel Gronninger were both Ohio natives. At the time of the 1900 United States Census, Gronninger was working as a laborer in a rolling mill in Ohio.

University of West Virginia

Gronninger played college baseball at the University of West Virginia starting no later than 1903. He was the captain of West Virginia's 1906 team. He was a multi-sport athlete at West Virginia and also served as captain of the West Virginia Mountaineers

West Virginia Mountaineers

The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams of West Virginia University. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Big East Conference. On July 1, 2012 the Mountaineers will switch conferences, moving from the Big East to the Big 12, becoming...

 basketball team.

Baseball coach and executive

Gronninger received his law degree (Bachelor of Laws) from West Virginia in June 1906. He remained in Morgantown, West Virginia

Morgantown, West Virginia

Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is the county seat of Monongalia County. Placed along the banks of the Monongahela River, Morgantown is the largest city in North-Central West Virginia, and the base of the Morgantown metropolitan area...

 as the coach of the school's baseball team. He also served as the manager of the Uniontown Coal Barons

Uniontown Coal Barons

The Uniontown Coal Barons were a Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League , Pennsylvania-West Virginia League and Middle Atlantic League baseball team based in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, USA. From 1947 to 1949, they were affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates.Under manager James Groninger, they won a...

 in 1906, leading them to a Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League

Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League

The class D Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League began in 1906. By 1908, however, this baseball minor league was extinct. Cumberland, Maryland dropped out after 1906, leaving Maryland unrepresented in 1907...

 championship. He served as the president of the Class-D Pennsylvania-West Virginia League

Pennsylvania-West Virginia League

The Pennsylvania-West Virginia League was a professional minor league baseball league that consisted of teams from Pennsylvania and West Virginia...

 in 1908 and 1909.

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. By September 1918, he was the Assistant Secretary of State of West Virginia. In 1921, he had the second highest salary ($2,750) in the Secretary of State's Office behind the Secretary of State. In 1923, he was in charge of enforcing West Virginia's securities laws and prosecuting stock fraud. Gronninger in his later years was a lawyer with a general practice at Charleston, West Virginia

Charleston, West Virginia

Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...

. He died at Huntington, West Virginia

Huntington, West Virginia

Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia, along the Ohio River. Most of the city is in Cabell County, for which it is the county seat. A small portion of the city, mainly the neighborhood of Westmoreland, is in Wayne County. Its population was 49,138 at...

in January 1944 at age 63.