College Football Hall calls Iowa's Larry Station

April 30, 2009

College Football Hall calls Iowa’s Station

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Larry Station, the former University of Iowa linebacker who compiled nearly 500 career tackles and twice was named consensus All-American, has been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. The announcement came Thursday, April 30.

Station is the 14th former Hawkeye player or coach to earn the honor and the first since Hayden Fry in 2003. Fry was Station’s coach at Iowa from 1982-85.

Twenty-three times in his career, Station was credited with 10 or more tackles in a game. He had 20 against Purdue in 1983, 20 against Michigan State in 1985 and 21 against Minnesota in 1984. Station led the Hawkeyes in tackles all four seasons and three of those years Iowa led the Big Ten Conference in total defense. Station, the school’s all-time leading tackler with 492 (308 solo, 184 assists), was also a two-time academic All-American.

“Larry is truly a special person. In my entire coaching career, he was probably the best defensive player I had the privilege to work with,” Fry said. “He could anticipate where the ball was going better than any linebacker I was ever associated with. He combined superior mental and athletic skills to become the best at his position.

“He was a leader on and off the field. All his teammates and members of our coaching staff had an enormous amount of respect for Larry. My sincerest congratulations to Larry. He deserves all the recognition he’s getting.”

Fifteen other players and two coaches joined Station in the Class of 2009 by entering college football’s ultimate shrine. The players are Pervis Atkins (halfback, New Mexico State), Tim Brown (wide receiver, Notre Dame), Chuck Cecil (defensive back, Arizona), Ed Dyas (fullback, Auburn), Major Harris (quarterback, West Virginia), Gordon Hudson (tight end, Brigham Young), William Lewis (center, Harvard), Woodrow Lowe (linebacker, Alabama), Ken Margerum (wide receiver, Stanford), Steve McMichael (defensive tackle, Texas), Chris Spielman (linebacker, Ohio State), Pat Swilling (defensive end, Georgia Tech), Gino Torretta (quarterback, Miami, Fla.), Curt Warner (running back, Penn State) and Grant Wistrom (defensive end, Nebraska). The coaches are Dick MacPherson (Massachusetts and Syracuse) and John Robinson (Southern California and Nevada-Las Vegas).

With Station securing the defensive side of the ball, the Hawkeyes posted season records of 8-4, 9-3, 8-4-1 and 10-2 and played in four bowl games — Peach, Gator, Freedom and Rose, winning the Peach Bowl 28-22 against Tennessee in 1982 and the Freedom Bowl 55-17 against Texas in 1984.

Station had 492 career tackles — the most in Hawkeye history — but he is best remembered for his game-saving tackle of running back Jamie Morris in Iowa’s 1985 game against Michigan. The game was one of the most anticipated in school history, as Iowa was ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll, while Michigan was ranked No. 2. Michigan held a 10-9 lead with just minutes left on the clock at Kinnick Stadium, when the Wolverines faced third-and-2. Station anticipated the handoff to Morris and dropped him for a 2-yard loss. The Wolverines were forced to punt and Iowa kicker Rob Houghtlin kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired to give Iowa a 12-10 victory.

Station, a native of Omaha, Neb., played one season of professional football with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Station was inducted into the Iowa Lettermen’s Hall of Fame in 2005. In 1989, Iowa fans selected Station to the all-time University of Iowa football team during the 100th anniversary celebration of Iowa football. In 1999, Sports Illustrated selected Station as the 38th greatest sports figure in history from the state of Nebraska.

To be eligible for the ballot, players must have been a First-Team All-America selection by a major/national selector as recognized by the NCAA for their consensus All-America teams; played their last year of intercollegiate football at least 10 years prior; played within the last 50 years and are not currently be playing professionally.

The Hall of Fame Class will be inducted at the National Football Foundation’s Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 8, 2009, in New York City. The recipients will be officially enshrined at the Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., in the summer of 2010.

Quarterback Chuck Long, a teammate with Station at Iowa from 1981-85, was inducting into Hall of Fame in 1999.