"Jay" Chryst, a standout four-year lineman for the Millersville varsity football team from 1946 to 1949, was voted captain of the Marauder gridders in his senior year.
During his undergraduate days, Chryst was a member of the Page Literary Society.
In 1984, Chryst was presented with the Marauder football team's Alumni Award in recognition of outstanding gridiron achievement plus a continuing commitment to excellence.
The J. Freeland Chryst endowed scholarship is awarded annually to a freshman student-athlete at Millersville who is from Lancaster County.
One of the University's greatest benefactors and a true friend to Millersville, Chryst has been cited for outstanding leadership, commitment and generosity to his alma mater, and for his efforts as a community business leader who has dedicated much of his life to the advancement of education and the welfare of society in general.
The former campus bookstore was renamed Chryst Hall in his honor in the spring of 1993, and that facility now houses MU's writing and tutorial centers, a lecture hall, and English department administrative and faculty offices. Also, he was presented the President's Medallion, which honors and recognizes individuals, corporations, institutes, or other organizations that have demonstrated extraordinary service, leadership, and dedication to higher education.
Chryst is the founder, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of The Jay Group, a multi-faceted, multi-million dollar service and sales promotion company located in Ronks in eastern Lancaster County.
His extensive University and community involvement includes service as chair of the Leadership Gifts Committee of "Commit to Opportunity," Millersville's 13 million dollar fundraising drive. He is past chair of the Lancaster County Association for the Blind. And he was cited as United Way Bronze Award Employer and as a Patron of the Boy Scouts of America.
Chryst was a PIAA football official from 1960 to 1980 and served as president of the Lancaster County chapter in 1978. He also received the Paul "Echon" Cogley Memorial Award from the Old-Timers Football Association.
