If You Build It, They Will Come

        Profile Mike Boddicker hits the triple crown for his Iowa cred: born in Iowa, attended Iowa, and had his life saved in Iowa.  Mike was born in Cedar Rapids and raised in Norway.  He attended the University of Iowa*, bypassing the Montreal Expos who drafted him out of High School.  He had a pretty successful career, winning an ALCS MVP, a World Series**, a Gold Glove and is in the Orioles Hall of Fame.  However, just after his career was over he discovered a lump in his neck and doctors at the University of Iowa help defeat his cancer.   * Boddicker has the 2nd highest WAR of any Hawkeye (31.3), just behind Jim Sundberg (40.5) and just above Cal Eldred (15.8) ** Boddicker is also the 2nd Hawkeye to win the World Series (1983).  First was Jim McAndrew with those Miracle Mets of 1969, and just beat out Sundberg who won with the Royals in 1985. Personal Notes A fun oddity in collecting players who aren't super stars is you sometimes get an oddity in their most valuable card.  N

     Profile Gayle Hopkins was a track athlete from Davenport who went on to have a successful career at Arizona and competed in the 1964 Olympics*.  Gayle broke Jesse Owens' long jump record at the Drake Relays**. * Olympics were held in Tokyo, and introduced Judo and Volleyball as medal events.  ** I mean any time you get to mention "broke Jesse Owens' ... record", that means you're pretty good Personal Notes When building my personal database, I've used a bunch of resources, starting with Wikipedia, BaseballReference, Football Reference, etc.  The additions I enjoy the most are the random ones I find reading an article about someone else.  I was researching James Jones for a previous post, and they were mentioning other famous athletes from Davenport, including Gayle Hopkins.  I bring up his wikipedia page and find it having very little info, so I had to dig to find he was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, raised in Iowa, and attended college in Colorado and Arizon

    CBA Draft Iowa Connections I'll be filling these in as I post in the blog.  I'll link to the players as they each get a post.  For full draft list visit NBA Hoops Online . 1985 None 1986 None 1987 None 1988 Lafester Rhodes, 1st, ISU Bill Jones , 1st, Iowa Gary Thompkins, 5th, ISU Al Lorenzen, 7th, Iowa Kevin Van Veldhuizen, 7th, Northwestern 1989 Bart Friedrick, 9th, Drake 1990 Matt Bullard, 3rd, Iowa Jason Reese, 4th, UNI Alessandro Donaldson, 6th, Drake 1991 Doug Collins, 8th, ISU 1992 James Moses, 5th, Iowa 1993 Justis Thigpen, 2nd, ISU 1994 James Winters, 6th, Iowa Randy Blocker , 6th, UNI 1995 Fred Hoiberg, 1st, ISU Loren Meyer, 7th, ISU 1996 Russ Millard, 4th, Iowa Chris Kingsbury, 6th, Iowa Kenyon Murray, 6th, Iowa 1997 Andre Woolridge, 2nd, Iowa Kenny Pratt, 6th, ISU C.J. Bruton, 6th, Indian Hills Dedric Willoughby, 7th, ISU 1998 Ryan Bowen, 2nd, Iowa Jess Settles, 10th, Iowa 1999 J.R. Koch, 4th, Iowa 2000 Cory Hightower, 5ht, Indian Hills Ernest Brown, 5th, Indian

    Profile Davenport's own James Jones is a defensive tackle who played for Northern Iowa in the late 80s and early 90s.  Jones was drafted by the Cleveland Browns* in 1991 and played 10 years in the league amassing 3 catches for 4 yards and two touchdowns (plus 37 sacks and 432 tackles).  Jones remains the highest drafted UNI player at #57**.  * His head coach was Bill Belichek and his DC was Nick Saban  ** While Jones was 3rd rounder, he was still drafted higher than Brad Meester (2nd Round) who was #60 overall Historical Significance Northern Iowa has had a number of NFL players, including a Super Bowl MVP (Kurt Warner), DPOY (Bryce Paup) and current NFL players (David Johnson, LJ Fort).  Before James Jones, there were two UNI players that were drafted highly (Randy Schultz in the 5th in 1966, Bryce Paup in the 6th in 1990).   Neither had a Panther cards, so I think I can reasonably declare that: 🔔1991 Wild Card Draft was the first UNI Panther player in a Panther uniform in a

Profile Tim Costo was a shortstop for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1987-1990, an All-American* and 1st Round pick in 1990**, and played a couple of years for the Cincinnati Reds in 1993 and 1994 with a lifetime WAR of -0.7.   * Of the 22 All-Americans, 4 had productive MLB careers (Aaron Sele, Dan Wilson, Jeffrey Hammonds, Mike Kelly) and 6 others made it to the pros.   ** Of the 26 1st Rounds, 13 had productive MLB careers, most notably Chipper Jones and Mike Mussina.  9 others also made it to the pros.   Historical Significance Tim Costo had a fine career, and played for the Iowa Hawkeyes, and I had no idea until I had opened a Topps pack in 1991.  Up until 1989 Pro Set Football, you didn't see players in their college uniforms, and often had to wait a year of pro play before you'd see them even in their pro jerseys.  The only cards you would find were the sporadic team sets that some colleges would put out. With a little research, and discounting the impact of 1990 Class Draft Pic

   NFL Draft Iowa Connections I'll be filling these in as I post in the blog.  I'll link to the players as they each get a post.   2021 NEW! Chancey Golston, 3rd, Iowa Spencer Brown, 3rd, UNI Elerson Smith, 4th, UNI Kene Nwangwu, 4th, ISU Ihmir Smith-Marsette, 5th, Iowa Daviyon Nixon, 5th, Iowa Nick Niemann, 6th, Iowa Alaric Jackson, UDFA, Iowa Mekhi Sargent, UDFA, Iowa Cole Banwart, UDFA, Iowa Brandon Smith, UDFA, Iowa Jack Heflin, UDFA, Iowa Coy Cronk, UDFA, Iowa Shaun Beyer, UDFA, Iowa Barrington Wade, UDFA, Iowa Landon Akers, UDFA, ISU Dylan Soehner, UDFA, ISU JaQuan Bailey, UDFA, ISU Lawrence White, UDFA, ISU Manny Rugamba, UDFA, Iowa Romeo McKnight, UDFA, Iowa Briley Moore, UDFA, UNI 2020 Joe Burrow , 1st, Ames Tristin Wirfs, 1st, Iowa A.J. Epenesa , 2nd Iowa Michael Ojemudia, 3rd Iowa Geno Stone, 7th Iowa Nate Stanley, 7th Iowa Steven Wirtel, UDFA ISU Ray Lima, UDFA ISU Julian Good-Jones, UDFA ISU Kristian Welch, UDFA Iowa Dominique Dafney, UDFA West Des Moines Reid Sinn

         Profile A.J. Epenesa is a defensive lineman for the Buffalo Bills playing his first year in the NFL after being drafted in the 2nd round of the 2020 draft *.  A.J. played college at Iowa and was the highest rated recruit** to play for the Hawkeyes. * Iowa players from the 2020 Draft (Hawkeyes: Tristin Wirfs, A.J. Epenesa, Michael Ojemudia, Geno Stone, Nate Stanley) ** Other highly rated recuits: Kyle Williams, Tony Moeaki, Blake Larsen and Matt Roth Personal Notes So the big thing I thought about with Epenesa was the fact that he was such a highest rated recruit coming to Iowa.  Iowa is not exactly known for getting 5 star recruits, but for taking 2 star recruits and making them the best version of them.  A short list of 2 Stars: Bob Sanders Robert Gallery Josey Jewell Chad Greenway Shonn Greene Nate Kaeding Jonathan Babineaux Joshua Jackson Micah Hyde Anthony Hitchens A.J. had a good career, but looking at the top recruits ever, two names jump out: Kyle Williams and Blake Lar

       Profile Joshua Jackson is a cornerback* from the University of Iowa who was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2018 NFL Draft ** by the Green Bay Packers.  Jackson was a unanimous All-American in 2017 for the Hawkeyes, nabbing 8 interceptions for the season. * Top Hawkeye defensive backs in the NFL by CarAV: Paul Krause (141), Merton Hanks (70), Bob Jeter (50), Micah Hyde (35), Bob Sanders (32)  ** Iowa Connections in the draft: James Daniels (2nd UofI), Jackson (2nd UofI), Josey Jewell (4th UofI), Jaleel Scott (4th Ellsworth), Daurice Fountain (5th UNI), Trevon Young (6th Des Moines), Allen Lazard (UDFA ISU), Ben Niemann (UDFA UofI), Nic Shimonek (UDFA UofI),  Akrum Wadley (UDFA UofI) Personal Notes So my dad was a Vikings fan growing up, and that's how I became one as well.  Iowa sits in this point where they have no pro teams, but are within driving range of multiple.  (MLB.tv blacks out Twins, Royals, Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs, and White Sox games)  So for the NFL you have

 If your NFL team is out, it's nice to have a team to root for.  Below are the teams ranked by the thing that matters to this blog: the number of Iowa Connections.  TLDR Go Buffalo!  Boo New Orleans! Iowa Playoff Connections 2 - Tampa Bay : Tristan Wirfs / Anthony Nelson (Iowa) 4 - Buffalo : Ike Boettger /  AJ Epenesa  / Micah Hyde (Iowa), AJ Klein (ISU) 4 - Green Bay : Christian Kirksey / Josh Jackson (Iowa), Allen Lazard (ISU), Dominique Dafney (W. Des Moines) 3 - Kansas City : Ben Niemann / Anthony Hitchens (Iowa), Kelechi Osemele (ISU) 3 - Tennessee : Parker Hesse/ Desmond King / Amani Hooker (Iowa) 2 - Washington : Ross Pierschbacher (Cedar Falls), Brandon Scherff (Iowa) 2 - Los Angeles Rams : Austin Blythe / Jake Gervase (Iowa) 2 - Baltimore : LJ Fort (UNI), Kristian Welch (Iowa) 2 - Cleveland : Adrian Clayborn / Derrick Willies (Iowa) 2 - Chicago : David Montgomery (ISU), James Daniels (Iowa) 1 - Pittsburgh: Amara Darboh (W. Des Moines) 1 - Indianapolis