Women’s basketball player designs official shirt for Santa Clara’s Ruff Riders student fan group

As a studio art major, Lauren Grover ’25, M.S. ’27 typically painted in oil on canvas. For her senior project last year, she created an immense landscape of the Sierra Vista mountain range, taking a snapshot from her life and zooming out to find perspective in a world that often moved too fast.

This year, Grover—now a graduate student—traded her paintbrush for a stylus, taking on a project that merged her talents as artist and athlete. Before the start of the fall sports season, Adam Brunnquell, assistant director of marketing and fan engagement at Santa Clara University, asked her if she wanted to design the official t-shirt for Santa Clara’s student cheering section, the Ruff Riders.

“I had done some graphics for our volleyball summer camp a few years ago, so Adam knew I was an artist,” Grover explains. “I hadn’t done much graphic design since high school, but I thought I’d try it out.”

After a couple of rough sketches and feedback from Brunnquell, Grover arrived at a final design featuring a fun, sleek, script-style font reading “Ruff Riders.” Like Grover, who double-majored (studio art and marketing) and played two sports (basketball and volleyball) as an undergraduate, her design doesn’t fit in one box, bursting out of the red frame on the shirt.

“It’s pretty cool. I got some positive feedback from my coaches and teammates,” Grover says of the shirts, which were handed out at the first home games for men’s and women’s basketball. “We were all excited to wear it for our warmup and to feel connected with our community and with the other students in Ruff Riders.”

Designing the official Ruff Riders shirt was a nice way to kick off Grover’s final year at Santa Clara. Six months ago, Grover wasn’t sure she would still be playing basketball this year. After graduating with her bachelor’s degree, she considered starting her professional life rather than using her final year of athletic eligibility.

But after meeting new women’s basketball coach Loree Payne, she was sold on playing one last season. Grover decided to join the inaugural cohort of the graduate sports business program in the Leavey School of Business and play one more year of basketball.

A month into the season, Grover’s decision to return has paid off. Despite welcoming 13 new players to the program, the Broncos started the season an impressive 8-3. Grover says the team has bonded quickly, and Payne’s focus on teamwork has been infectious.

“She has been so uplifting and positive,” Grover says. “I immediately felt so at ease, and she had confidence in how the year was going to go.”

The sports business program has also proven to be a good fit. Grover is enjoying the more buttoned-up approach of graduate school, taking classes with people of all ages and backgrounds.

“There are so many changes going around between sports and my classes, but it’s been a really positive experience,” Grover says. “I have no words for how grateful I am.”