Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Honoring Hayden
My first official act as authorized guest blogger is to correct Tigerhawk's shocking oversight in not recognizing last Saturday's induction of Hayden Fry into the College Football Hall of Fame.
In 1979 Fry inherited an Iowa football program that was among the worst in the country. Year after year it entered the season ranked in the Penthouse bottom 20 (which I know as I was a regular reader at the time). Of course it was Fry who changed the image of Iowa football, redesigning the uniforms to mimic the then dominant Pittsburgh Steelers, and introducing the fierce and now universally recognized Tigerhawk logo.
After two decades of enduring unimaginative, losing football, Iowa fans were stunned in the 1979 opener when the Hawkeyes took the field and (gasp!) attempted a forward pass on first down. Then another, and another. When the punter took the field (an unknown freshman named Reggie Roby) the crowd rose to its feet and let out a roar of approval for this exciting new brand of football.
Two years later, Iowa opened the 1981 season with a shocking 10-7 victory over Nebraska, and the program was on its way. Fry would take the Hawkeyes to three Rose Bowls over the next 10 years, bringing the program back to consistent respectability, if not annual Big 10 contention.
So here's to Hayden and his great gift to Hawkeyes everywhere.
In 1979 Fry inherited an Iowa football program that was among the worst in the country. Year after year it entered the season ranked in the Penthouse bottom 20 (which I know as I was a regular reader at the time). Of course it was Fry who changed the image of Iowa football, redesigning the uniforms to mimic the then dominant Pittsburgh Steelers, and introducing the fierce and now universally recognized Tigerhawk logo.
After two decades of enduring unimaginative, losing football, Iowa fans were stunned in the 1979 opener when the Hawkeyes took the field and (gasp!) attempted a forward pass on first down. Then another, and another. When the punter took the field (an unknown freshman named Reggie Roby) the crowd rose to its feet and let out a roar of approval for this exciting new brand of football.
Two years later, Iowa opened the 1981 season with a shocking 10-7 victory over Nebraska, and the program was on its way. Fry would take the Hawkeyes to three Rose Bowls over the next 10 years, bringing the program back to consistent respectability, if not annual Big 10 contention.
So here's to Hayden and his great gift to Hawkeyes everywhere.
1 Comments:
By 
TigerHawk, at
Wed Aug 18, 09:45:00 AM:
Awesome inaugural post. The oversight was indeed unforgiveable. I was probably just too pissed off over the McGreevey thing to notice.
