April 23, 2010
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IOWA CITY, Iowa – – University of Iowa wide receiver Coach Erik Campbell will be recognized in his hometown of Gary, IN Saturday, April 24, as the Gary chapter of the NAACP holds its 45th annual Lifetime Membership banquet.
Campbell, a standout athlete during his prep career at Roosevelt HS in Gary, will be honored with the Benjamin Hooks Award. Benjamin Hooks, who just recently passed away, was executive director and CEO emeritus of the NAACP national organization. He served that organization as executive director from 1977-92.
The Gary chapter of the NAACP recognizes one local figure and one national figure at its annual banquet. The keynote speaker and recipient of the Roy Wilkins Award is Herman Boone, the former high school football coach profiled in the 2000 movie “Remember the Titans.”
Campbell was an all-state selection in football and gained all-American honors in track after leading his team to back-to-back state championships. He is a member of both the Indiana High School Track and Field Hall of Fame and the Indiana High School Football Hall of Fame.
Campbell is heading into his third season as Iowa’s wide receiver coach. He joined the Iowa staff after serving as an assistant coach at Michigan for 13 seasons.
Campbell, at Michigan, was responsible for the wide receiving corps and worked with the team’s punt returners for 13 seasons. He added the title of assistant head coach prior to the start of the 2003 season. In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Campbell coordinated the successful Women’s Football Academy, put on annually by the coaching staff, which helped raise over one million dollars for the University of Michigan Cancer Center.
Campbell was a four-year letterman (1984-87) at Michigan and boasts starts on both sides of the ball. The Wolverines compiled a 35-13-1 record and won the 1986 Big Ten title while Campbell was a squad member. He is the only player in Michigan football history to start at all four secondary positions in one year.
Campbell saw the majority of his action at defensive back, starting 30 career games during his freshman, junior and senior seasons. He started the final 25 games of his career and added five starts as a true freshman. He completed his career with 113 tackles and five interceptions. Campbell earned his bachelor of general studies degree from Michigan in 1988.
Campbell has participated in 20 bowl games throughout his career. After competing in bowl games four consecutive years as a player, Campbell has coached in 16 bowl games. He has coached in 13 January bowl games, the most recent being Iowa’s victories in the 2009 Outback Bowl and 2010 Orange Bowl. Campbell served as a student assistant coach at Michigan in 1 988 before beginning his full-time coaching career as an assistant coach with the U.S. Naval Academy. Campbell spent two season’s coaching running backs for Navy (1989-90), before accepting a position at Ball State University as the running backs coach (1991-93). Campbell coached one season at Syracuse (1994) before returning to Ann Arbor as the Wolverines’ wide receivers coach.
The NAACP banquet will be held at the Genesis Convention Center in Gary, beginning at 6 p.m. Tickets are $60 for the black tie affair. For information, call Kathy Kelli at 219-944-8359 or Barbara Bolling at 219-881-9461.