JUCO returns to Western Colorado this weekend, and fans couldn't be more excited. If you're a JUCO fan, you might enjoy a look back to the earlier days of the series via the lens of late Daily Sentinel photographer Robert Grant.

Grand Junction has hosted the Junior College World Series for close to half a century. For approximately half of those years, Bob Grant was there with his camera. He continued capturing images of the tournament until his retirement in 1985.

My dad (Bob Grant's son-in-law) went through a ton of Bob Grant negatives to dig up a few memories. Baseball fans are sure to remember many of these shots.

One of Bob Grant's most prized photos would be the first image in the gallery, the shot of the hawks at Suplizio Field. That particular shot won him an award from the Press Photographers Association.

As a Grand Junction native, I really enjoy some of the nostalgia spotted on the signs in the background. Did you see the billboard for "Mr. Steak"? If you were around Grand Junction in the 1970s, you definitely knew about "Mr. Steak."

My apologies in advance if a picture from a game other than JUCO found its way into the gallery. My grandpa, bless his heart, was a great photographer, but rarely wrote anything down. A tremendous amount of research, some of which involves getting photos out in the pubic, goes into digging up information on the content of the shot.

As you gear up for JUCO, take a look back at some of the players who made this event the major celebration it has ultimately become.

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