|
Ex-Hawkeye Coach Hayden Fry Named to College Football Hall of Fame, Says 'Part of This Award Belongs to the People of Iowa' |
|
RON MALY
Vol 3, No. 20, Hayden Fry graciously credited the "people of Iowa" today after named to the College Football Hall of Fame. "This is, without question, the biggest honor I’ve been fortunate to attain during my career," the retired University of Iowa coach said. "I’ve been very lucky at many junctures of my life, and this is a prime example of how blessed I’ve been. "I’ve been associated with many good people at Southern Methodist, North Texas State and the University of Iowa. But, without question, my favorite place was and still is, Iowa." Fry, the winningest coach in Iowa football history, had a 143-89-6 record from 1979-1998. His career record was 232-178-10 in 37 years. He joins a list of 15 former Iowa coaches, players and administrators in the Hall of Fame. The new members will be inducted at the 46th annual awards dinner Dec. 9 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. They will be enshrined in the Hall in South Bend, Ind., in 2004. "The assistants, fans and everybody associated with Iowa football are the main reason this is happening to me," Fry said. "I owe much to everyone I’ve worked for and with during my career. But what happened at Iowa is the primary reason I’ve been given this honor."Part of this award belongs to the people of Iowa and, for that, I will be eternally grateful." Iowa had 17 consecutive non-winning seasons prior to Fry’s arrival in 1979. His first two teams lost more games than they won, but his 1981 squad went 8-4 and played in the Rose Bowl. The other former Iowa coaches who are in the Hall of Fame are Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Edward "Slip" Madigan and Forest Evashevski. The former Iowa players in the Hall are Nile Kinnick, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1939, Gordon Locke, Fred "Duke" Slater, Calvin Jones, Earl Banks, Aubrey Devine, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and Chuck Long. The administrator is Eric Wilson, who was Iowa’s first sports information director. One other coach—Doug Dickey—was also named today to the Hall of Fame. Dickey coached at Tennessee and Florida.Players named to the Hall today were Ricky Bell of Southern California, Murry Bowden of Dartmouth, Tom Brown of Minnesota, Jumbo Covert of Pittsburgh, Jerry Levias, who played for Fry at Southern Methodist, Billy Neighbors of Alabama, Ron Pritchard of Arizona State, John Rauch of Georgia, Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State, Joe Theismann of Notre Dame and Roger Wehrli of Missouri. Levias became the first black player in Southern Methodist history and the first in the Southwest Conference to receive an athletic scholarship. [Ron Maly’s e-mail address is malyr@juno.com ]
|