Winona State University Athletics

Member of 1993, 1994 Conference Championship Football Team
Member of 1993 NAIA Playoff Team
Academic All-American 1993-1994
All-Conference 1992, 1993, 1994
1994-1995 National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Postgraduate Award Winner
1994-1995 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Winner
1994 Woody Hayes National Scholar Athlete Award Winner
1994 Glen Galligan Award Winner

When it comes to defensive play on the football field for Winona State University, there was no one who could match the athleticism and scholarship of Nate Gruber.

Gruber’s four year play at WSU was the springboard to the current day’s success of the Warrior football program. Gruber’s team won more games from 1991 through 1994 than any other four year stretch since the mid 1960’s, captured conference championships in 1993 and 1994, and in 1995 placed the Warriors into WSU’s first ever football playoff game.

It was his athleticism that helped Gruber come up with 25 career interceptions which is still a WSU record and still leaves him in the NCAA Division II career top ten for interceptions.

Off the field, Gruber was equally outstanding in the classroom. That classroom expertise helped Gruber earn a number of prestigious awards, including the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Postgraduate Felllowship award, the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Football Award, and the Woody Hayes National Scholar Athlete Award along with a number of Winona State awards and honors.

Today, Gruber is a corporate procurement and materials manager and he and his wife have three children.