Hayden Fry Named Honorary Captain

Sept. 2, 2009

IOWA CITY, IA – Hall of Fame Football Coach Hayden Fry has been named honorary captain for Saturday’s season opener against Northern Iowa. The Hawkeyes face the Panthers in a televised game with kickoff set for 11:01 a.m. in Kinnick Stadium. A few tickets still remain for the contest. Iowa has sold out 36 of its last 37 home games.

Hayden Fry was Iowa’s head football coach for 20 years (1979-98). When he retired he was the dean of Big Ten coaches and was just the sixth football coach in Big Ten history to coach 20 seasons. He also in Iowa City this week as part of the inaugural FryFest activities.

With Fry at the helm, Iowa’s football program ranked consistently among the nations best. The Hawkeyes earned 14 bowl appearances under his leadership. In 2003 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He has also been honored with the prestigious Amos Alonzo Stagg Lifetime Achievement Award, the Baylor Wall of Fame, The Peach and Holiday Bowl Halls of Fame and the North Texas State University Hall of Fame. These awards and honors were a culmination of a great career in collegiate football coaching.

Fry, in 1998, concluded his 20th season as Iowa’s head coach and his 37th season as a head coach on the collegiate level. Fry had a 143-89-6 record with the Hawkeyes (96-61-5 in the Big Ten) and a career mark of 232-178-10. He is Iowa’s winningest football coach.

Coach Fry will accompany the Iowa captains to the center of the field for the pre-game coin-flip. He will also be with the Hawkeyes on the sidelines and in the locker room before and after the game.