Grover S. Krantz

			Grover S. Krantz 1931 - 2002 by John W. Green
BFRO Home
In the fall of 2000, when the Skookum cast was shown to a group of sasquatch researchers who had not been present when it was found, four out of the five newcomers were scientists with doctors' degrees. It is hard for old-timers to remember, and probably even harder for others to appreciate, how different things were 30 years before. That is how long ago that Grover Krantz, then an associate professor of anthropology at Washington State University, risked his career, and the PhD he did not yet have, by advocating that evidence for the existence of a huge bipedal primate in North America deserved scientific study. Then, and for years afterward, he was the only member of the academic community prepared to face the ridicule of his peers and jeopardize future prospects for tenure and promotion by insisting publicly that 'Bigfoot' tracks are made by real animals, and that the people who tell of seeing enormous, bipedal apes should be taken seriously. His courageous example did much to stimulate participation in the study by both scientists and laymen, and for that he deserves the respect and gratitude of everyone involved, and he did a great deal more than that. While a lot of his extensive research and published work paralleled what others were also doing, he brought to it a set of skills and qualifications that no on else had. In addition some of his contributions were entirely unique. Grover stands before his impressive collection at his home. Photo by Richard Noll. Grover was the first person to establish, from the study of casts and tracks, that the makers of the big footprints have a foot structure differing significantly from that of humans. He was also the first to note and study the patterns of skin ridges that show up on a few of the casts, establishing that footprints laid down far apart in both space and time show patterns that are the same, and that differ from those of humans or any other animals. While not the first to suggest that sasquatch might be Gigantopithecus, not extinct after all, he was the first to point out that the shape of their fossil jaws indicates that those giant apes probably walked upright. And he had the skill and knowledge to do an authoritative reconstruction, based on the largest jawbone, of a matching skull that demonstrates strikingly that Gigantopithecus was as huge as sasquatch are reported to be. Grover enjoys time with another of his favorite animals... his Irish Wolfhound, Ralph. Photo by Richard Noll. He showed his courage also in enduring the abuse to which he was subjected for maintaining the increasingly unpopular opinion that it is justifiable to kill one of the animals, because nothing short of physical remains will convince science of the existence of the species. While far from being alone in that position, he was almost alone in being prepared to defend it in public. Lost in the uproar was the fact that he spent a lot of money and effort trying to locate remains from a natural death, and also twice tried to prove himself wrong, with major attempts to obtain scientific acceptance based on the tracks, and then on the skin ridges. It is a matter for great regret not only that he did not live to see a successful conclusion to his work but also, for the rest of us, that his work was interrupted when he still had so much more to contribute. Grover with long-time friend and colleague John Green. Photo by Jeffrey Lemley. . BFRO Home