Most people who follow this blog probably know Iowa State as the soon to be former employer of “intelligent-design” activist Guillermo Gonzalez. However, it actually has an interesting progressive history. George Washington Carver was both the first African-American student and the first African American faculty member there. Today, ESPN ran a story about Jack Tice, the namesake of the football stadium and the first African-American athlete at ISU: “ISU only I-A school to honor African-American in stadium name.”
When Euseph Messiah arrived at Iowa State, he barely noticed a weather-beaten statue outside of his team’s home stadium, much less cared whom the facility was named after.
Jack Trice’s figure can be found outside the stadium that bears his name, despite a fleeting college career that lasted only two games for the Cyclones.
That might not seem like much. But for those who have learned about Trice’s tragic story of sacrifice, it remains one of the most compelling in the history of college football.
In an age when most stadiums are named after a megabuck donor or a corporate sponsor, the Cyclones’ home facility honors Trice, who died from injuries on Oct. 8, 1923, two days after he was trampled in a football game against Minnesota.
It is a very interesting story, and well worth a read.
