Cathedrals of College Football

Editor's Note: The following first appeared in the book, "Cathedrals of College Football" by Michael and Joseph Irwin, published in 1999 by Alliance Press Inc., Atlanta.

The University of Iowa
Kinnick Stadium
Iowa City, Iowa

The University of Iowa, like the rest of Iowa City, hugs the banks of the Iowa River. The scene is collegiate and tranquil, as though someone with great vision planned the city to turn out the way it did. If that were true, then the founder of Iowa City would not be disappointed. It is, some may be surprised, a real nice place to be. On five or six days each year, all roads in the state seem to lead to Iowa City. And all roads in Iowa City lead to Kinnick Stadium. During those special days, on the crisp winds of fall, the Iowa Hawkeyes take the field and Kinnick Stadium is filled with the sounds of 65,000 faithful.

A University of Iowa president was known to have pointed out that athletics are the front door by which many among the state's population view the institution. That's absolutely true and through Iowa football, they can't help but get a positive feeling about the school. Hayden Fry saw to that.

The Texas native came to Iowa in 1979 following successful stints as head coach and athletic director at North Texas State and Southern Methodist University. He arrived in Iowa City to coach a team with a proud, though distant past and a staunchly loyal fan base. It was a foundation upon which he would bolster the program and achieve the kind of success that seemed out of reach to then-Hawkeye fans. Iowa had won only 30 games in the ten seasons before Fry. That would quickly change as Fry would get the Hawkeyes soaring all the way to Pasadena. In his third season at the helm, He led Iowa to its first Rose Bowl in more than 20 years.

A University of Iowa president was known to have pointed out that athletics are the front door by which many among the state's population view the institution. That's absolutely true and through Iowa football, they can't help but get a positive feeling about the school. Hayden Fry saw to that.

Fry's folksy style and look-you-in-the-eye honesty quickly caught on with Iowa fans and prospective players. Kinnick Stadium had to be enlarged three times in the Fry Era. That interest was rewarded with 14 bowl trips in 20 seasons-this output from a team which had not been to any bowls in 23 years before he got there. The legacy of Hayden Fry is surely measured by that success but even more so by the way he achieved it. To Iowa fans, Fry was a mirror image of themselves, albeit with a Texas accent. He elevated the program upon the shoulders of good people. "He always emphasized recruiting good players who were solid citizens," according to Phil Haddy, sports information director. The bottom line could be summed up in two words: winning right.

Fry also demonstrated that he and his players, were really a part of Iowa… not simply transients on their way to someplace else. With the importance of agriculture in the region and the consistent threat to the farming way of life, Fry had his players wear ANF (America Needs Farmers) stickers on their helmets. During the Persian Gulf Crisis, Iowa players sported American flags as well. The patriotism and pride was not a gimmick, Fry had plenty of offers to leave over the years yet he remained loyal to the university.

The 1981 season was the rock solid foundation upon which winning traditions are built. The season elevated Iowa into a place reserved for the best football programs. They have never come bad down. All Americans Andre Tippett and Reggie Roby were stars of this trailblazing Hawkeye team. The team set off an emotional roller coaster. The first game was a stunning 10-7 victory over Nebraska at home. Emotionally spent, the Hawks lost on the road the following weekend to Iowa State. Iowa won the next four games with key victories over UCLA and Michigan. Minnesota came to Kinnick a week after the Michigan game and exited with Floyd of Rosedale in hand. (More on Floyd later) Ultimately, though, Iowa kept the dream alive and flew into the Rose Bowl. It was the first in a string of eight straight bowl appearances for Hayden Fry's Hawkeyes.

College football is colored by rivalries, those games around which entire season, indelible memories, even careers are shaped. Occasionally odd things are wagered and tradition is born. Iowa and Minnesota share a common border. Annually, they fight over the coveted "Floyd of Rosedale."

In the ensuing years, Iowa proved that its newfound competitiveness was no fluke. Wins over Tennessee (1982), Ohio State (1983), and in 1984 over Michigan and Texas proved their strength. The 1985 season would again be a watershed year for Iowa. Led by record-setting quarterback Chuck Long, Iowa cruised through the regular season, their only loss was to Ohio State. Long was the first quarterback in NCAA history to pass for more than 10,000 yards. His 22 straight completions against Indiana is still an NCAA record. His passing prowess led the Hawkeyes back to the Rose Bowl and secured the Maxwell Award for himself.

"Following the University of Iowa is more like a religion to people than an athletic event," according to Tom Ross. He is one to know since he's been following the team most of his life. Ross grew up in Newton, Iowa, a town of 15,000 about 70 miles west of Iowa City. "My father died when I was in ninth grade so my uncle became a surrogate father to me. He was also a Hawkeye fan." Ross went to games with his uncle and that relationship sparked his interest in Iowa. An outstanding football player coming out of high school, Ross selected Iowa over Nebraska. "When I ran out onto the field for the first time, the band was playing On Iowa and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. To this day, when I'm clapping as they play the song, it's an emotional event." The program had high expectations during Ross' stretch in the mid-1960's. "Playboy magazine has us projected to go 9-1," Ross said, "they had the numbers right but just in the wrong columns." Nonetheless, he and many other former Iowa players foster a strong bond to the school.

That emotional tie-ownership almost-is also shared by many Iowa fans. "It's probably even more prevalent among those who didn't attend the university," Ross said. An Iowa game draws people from all over the state. "Even people from places as far away as Sioux City will drive in to Iowa city on the morning of the game." They show up on matter what. "If it's sunny, the stands are packed with people in rain gear. If they're winning, it's packed. If they're losing, it's packed." According to Ross, Iowa fans are a committed bunch. "It's not win or tie loyalty."

The man for whom the stadium was named looms large in the annals of Iowa football. Nile Kinnick was a halfback but like many athletes of his day, he played both ways. He played, however, like few others. He was part of Coach Eddie Anderson's legendary Ironmen team of 1939. For his effort on both sides of the ball, Kinnick won the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell and Walter Camp Trophies. Kinnick's versatility was evident in athletics and academics. He punted an incredible 16 times for 731 yards against Notre Dame that year. He still holds the Iowa career mark for interceptions with 18. Off the field, Kinnick was senior class president. In the classroom, he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Kinnick was an ensign in the United States Navy and he died in a plane crash in the Caribbean while on a training mission in 1943. The university named its all-time team in 1989 on the 100th anniversary of Iowa football. Kinnick was named the most outstanding player. "We had some of the guys there from the 1939 team," said Les Steenlage. "They believed through all their lives that Nile Kinnick would walk out of that jungle one day."

College football is colored by rivalries, those games around which entire season, indelible memories, even careers are shaped. Occasionally odd things are wagered and tradition is born. Iowa and Minnesota share a common border. Annually, they fight over the coveted "Floyd of Rosedale." Floyd is actually the statue of a pig and it, or he rather, came to be as a result of a 1935 wager between Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson and Iowa Governor Clyde Herring. Iowa lost the game that year prompting Herring to present Olson with Floyd of Rosedale, a champion pig and the brother of Blue Boy from Will Rogers' movie called State Fair. Olson, in turn, gave the pig to the University of Minnesota and commissioned a St. Paul sculptor to capture Floyd's image for posterity. The bronze result is a pig (21 inches long and 15 inches high) mounted on a stand. The Floyd of Rosedale perpetual trophy is kept by the winning team. Minnesota has held Floyd for more years with a 20-game lead in the series.

Another important game on the annual schedule is against the Cyclones of Iowa State University. The series dates back to 1894. The teams played every year until 1920. A couple of games were held in the 1930's but the instate rivalry went on hiatus until 1977. Part of the tradition involves students outside of football. The University of Iowa ROTC program takes responsibility for delivering the game ball. A great deal of footwork-or feetwork, actually-is involved because the ball is taken from Ames Iowa, home of the Cyclones, to Iowa City. The students do a relay run-exactly like the Olympic torch except the item being carried is a football and the event isn't the Olympics, it's much more important than that. "We have a saying: You can go to Ames and be a Cyclone for four years or you can come to Iowa City and be a Hawkeye for life," Ross said.

Fry also demonstrated that he and his players, were really a part of Iowa… not simply transients on their way to someplace else. With the importance of agriculture in the region and the consistent threat to the farming way of life, Fry had his players wear ANF (America Needs Farmers) stickers on their helmets. During the Persian Gulf Crisis, Iowa players sported American flags as well. The patriotism and pride was not a gimmick, Fry had plenty of offers to leave over the years yet he remained loyal to the university.

So what's a Hawkeye and who in the heck is Herky? The nickname is based on a fictional character from James Fennimore Cooper's 1826 novel, The Last of the Mohicans. In Cooper's story, the Delaware Indians gave the Hawkeye name to a white scout who lived with the tribe. The name migrated to the Iowa Territory in 1838 as a result of campaigns by a Burlington, Iowa judge and a newspaper editor. The town newspaper was called the Burlington Hawk-Eye, and the name stuck. In 1948, a journalism instructor named Richard Spencer III created a cartoon character of a hawk. To name the new character, the athletic department ran a statewide contest and the winning entry, Herky, was penned by John Franklin of Belle Plaine. Herky the Hawk became a real mascot in the mid-1950s and has been cruising the sidelines ever since.

The 1956 edition of the Iowa Hawkeyes was arguably one of the school's best. The team reeled off five consecutive wins to start the season before losing by a hair, or three rather, to Michigan. The Hawkeyes rolled through the rest of the regular season capped off by a final game 40-point win over Notre Dame. Meanwhile on the left coast, Oregon State had also notched a successful season despite losing by one point in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes undefeated record in the Big Ten Conference gave them Rose Bowl rights and the stage was set for a rematch. Coach Forest Evashevski's Iowa team was even more impressive in the second meeting and beat the Beavers 35-19. Just as the team made its mark so too did a player named Alex Karras. The defensive lineman was named All American in 1956, the start of several accolades. By 1957, the Gary, Indiana native would become a two-time All-Big Ten selection as well as winner of the Outland Trophy, awarded annually to college football's top lineman. Karras was selected in the first round of the 1958 NFL draft and continued a successful playing career with the Detroit Lions.

Kinnick Stadium was built in 1929 at a cost of $497,000. The original version seated 53,000 people and took six months to complete. Several expansion projects over the years have grown the seating capacity to 70,397. They call them "bumblebees," those hard core Hawkeye fans who dress in black and yellow to go to games. And on game day, Kinnick seats 20 miles of them in its bleacher seats alone. Recent improvements in the press box have cost more than the entire stadium did. Kinnick, the known as Iowa Stadium, opened with a bang. The Hawkeyes scorched Monmouth 46-0. The stadium grew along with the importance of Iowa's football program. The people keep coming and the old stadium continues to be a centerpiece of the rites of fall.

For a long stretch into the mid-1990's, one of the more entertaining programs on television was a comedy series called Coach. It was football fan's dream, Coach brought a gregarious character into America's living rooms and engaged viewers in the personal side of the coaching profession. The main character was a coach of a Midwestern school, even had the first name Hayden. A coincidence? Uh, no. Television producer Barry Kemp created the show. He also graduated from the University of Iowa. Wonder what the real Hayden though about all that?

Iowa City is a place in which game weekends begin on Thursday with the arrival of out-of-touch Hawkeye fans. They roll into the town and not so much transform it as they become part of it. The environment is just made for football. The beautiful red and yellow foliage from the oaks and maples and the crisp air that moves down from the north just make it feel like football season. The community and the college are inextricably linked and complement each other.

The real Hayden stared many things at Iowa. One thing he started was a tradition for the team only. It wasn't shared with anyone else, though many knew it existed. It had to do with dancing. Imagine a bunch of big guys, celebrating a win, not with high fives and handshakes, but by doing the …. Hokey pokey. At an age when many young people seek more to be cool than together, Hayden Fry had them doing the hokey pokey. Perhaps the master coach saw that while few are especially adept at dancing, everyone was probably equally inept at doing the hokey pokey. It was, quite possibly, equally embarrassing for all, and for that reason a valuable team unity exercise. Since the right to do the hokey pokey was earned only by winning the game, the Hawkeyes couldn't always do it-but they did it a lot under Coach Fry.

Iowa City is a place in which game weekends begin on Thursday with the arrival of out-of-touch Hawkeye fans. They roll into the town and not so much transform it as they become part of it. The environment is just made for football. The beautiful red and yellow foliage from the oaks and maples and the crisp air that moves down from the north just make it feel like football season. The community and the college are inextricably linked and complement each other. Famed college football announcer Keith Jackson once observed that Iowa City is a "wonderful setting for college football. There's a great deal of enthusiasm for it. They enjoy their football and they applaud their team." And Hawkeye fans support their team through the thick and thin, year in and out.

If you're lucky enough to find yourself in Iowa on a fall football Saturday, go directly to Iowa City, get a ticket somehow, and see a game at Kinnick Stadium. It is, in modern vernacular, the real deal. It is also a Cathedral of College Football.

For additional information about the renovation of historic Kinnick Stadium, contact the appropriate staff member.
The Renovation Project Jane Meyer Senior Associate Director of Athletics Jane-Meyer@uiowa.edu (319) 335-8874 Season and Single-Game Tickets/ Seat Assignments David Sandstrum Assistant Athletic Director for Ticket Operations David-Sandstrum@hawkeyesports.com (319) 335-9309 Other Rick Klatt Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs Rick-Klatt@uiowa.edu (319) 335-9431	Private Suites, Indoor Club Seats, Outdoor Club Seats, Private Gifts and Capital Campaign Mark Jennings Associate Athletics Director Mark-Jennings@hawkeyesports.com (319) 335-8903 Andy Piro Senior Director of Development Andy-Piro@uiowa.edu (319) 335-3305