Aug. 30, 2004
IOWA CITY – In the weeks leading up to the University of Iowa’s “Throwback Game” against Kent State on Sept. 4, the UI Alumni Association (UIAA) is showcasing a fanfare to Hawkeye football in a series of stories surrounding a 115-year timeline of anecdotes, videos and audio memories. Fans can log onto www.iowalum.com/magazine to access Iowa Alumni Magazine’s newest web exclusive.
With game film from as early as 1921, audio from familiar Hawkeye broadcasters Bob Brooks, Ron Gonder and Jim Zabel, and memories from players, coaches, and even a former U.S. president, the timeline will likely attract football fans of all ages. And, beginning Aug. 30, those fans are invited to test their Iowa football knowledge in a series of online quizzes.
Want to know what’s buried in the north end zone of Kinnick Stadium? How it was that Alex Karras couldn’t be found to sign a letter of intent to play at Ohio State University? How Ironman quarterback Al Couppee described his renowned teammate Nile Kinnick? Click on www.iowalum.com/magazine to start reading, listening and watching the best of Iowa football.
Readers can learn about a coach who raised money for the football program by singing in Gilbert & Sullivan’s popular “Mikado,” a team doctor who was short in stature but big of heart, a little hymn composed to honor the university as a young engineering student went off to war, and much more.
Fans will be invited to vote on their favorite player and favorite team during the week of Aug. 30. That’s also when the quizzes will be posted. The first entrant to achieve a perfect score on each quiz will win a pair of tickets to one of this season’s home games, and everyone who answers all the questions correctly will win a Hawkeye memento. All the answers will be found somewhere in the football timeline, audio and video memories, or one of the several stories attached to “Gridiron Glory.”
Carol Harker Wilcox wrote the text to “100 Years of Iowa Football” in 1989, relying on university archives, “Hawkeye” yearbooks, fan scrapbooks and memories, as well as early editions of the alumni magazine she has edited since 1982. Web designer Zack Schmidt, a 2003 UI graduate, has spent the summer of 2004 enriching that text with video collected from the university’s football program and University Libraries archives. He has also interviewed Brooks, Gonder and Zabel to acquire their unique perspectives on Hawkeye history.
“Gridiron Glory” will remain accessible online following this season’s home opener.