If You Build It, They Will Come

        Profile Larry Ball was a linebacker for the Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1970s.  Born in Iowa City he attended Louisville before the pros.  If you are really up on your NFL history, you'll note that Miami and Tampa Bay are unique in the 1970s by have the only undefeated season (Miami) and a winless team (Tampa Bay).  In fact, Larry is the only player to play the full season for both teams*.   * Something you don't see anymore, one other Dolphin was drafted in the expansion draft by Tampa, but retired instead of playing with Tampa.  He opted to go to med school instead. Personal Notes So when I'm at a card show (sigh, I miss those), I did through a  lot of dime boxes.  When I run into a cluster of 1970s cards, I typically flip them over and go through the bio data, specifically college and birth place.  I can't always remember the older guys (although I am getting better), so I'll ca...

        Profile Harvey Kuenn was a MLB player for 15 years and a manager for 3 years.  Harvey was a 10 time All-Star, ending his career with a .303 average and just over 2000 hits. He won Manager of the Year in 1982 taking the Brewers to the World Series* (which they lost in 7 to the Cardinals).  Harvey played one year at Luther College** in Decorah, obviously the source of his success. * Get this.  Takes over the team mid-season when they were under .500, leads them all the way to the World Series and then fired after the next season in which they won 87 games. ** MLBers from Luther:  Ossie Orwoll (1928-29), Marv Olson (1931-33) and Kuenn (1952-66) Personal Notes Harvey Kuenn fits in this slice of my Iowa collection that feels a bit weird.  While I don't know for certain, it seems that Harvey lived in Iowa less than a year and didn't enjoy his time here. For whatever reason he left Luther for the University of Wisconsin.  It could ...

        Profile Tom Knight was a corner back for the Iowa Hawkeyes in the early 90s, logging 10 interceptions in his time there.  He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the 1997 NFL Draft* with the 9th overall pick**.  He played 6 years in the pros. * Iowa Connections in 1997 NFL Draft: Knight (1st UofI), Ross Verba (1st UofI), Sedrick Shaw (3rd UofI), Troy Davis (3rd ISU), Tim Kohn (3rd ISU), Dedric Ward (3rd UNI),  Damien Robinson (4th UofI) ** Hawkeyes who were drafted higher than Knight: Randy Duncan (1st 1959), Robert Gallery (2nd 2004), Dick Crayne (4th 1936), Brandon Scherff (5th 2015), John Niland (5th 1966), T.J. Hockenson (8th 2019)  Personal Notes I have one little paragraph for these posts, because I have a lot of them to do, and I'm not trying to be a one stop shop for information about a person here.  There are plenty of other sites for that.  However, for the 9th pick in the draft, Tom Knight is pretty anonymous....

Pro Football HOF The Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton, Ohio and is home to just over 346 members.  Each member receives a gold jacket upon enshrinement.  Here's the best list I can come up with of Iowa Connections in this HOF. Iowa Hawkeyes Players Alex Karras Paul Krause Duke Slater Andre Tippett Emlen Tunnell Iowa State Cyclones Coaches Jimmy Johnson Don Shula Mike Michalske Northern Iowa Players Kurt Warner Coe Kohawks Coaches Marv Levy Lived in Iowa Players Terry Bradshaw (Lived in Camanche)

If your NBA 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 Utah and Denver!  Boo most of the Eastern Conference! Iowa Playoff Connections 2 - Denver :           Monte Morris (ISU),  Ryan Bowen  (Iowa) 2 - Utah :                Georges Niang (ISU) ,  Matt Thomas (ISU) 1 - Portland :            Terry Stotts  (Cedar Falls) 1 - Brooklyn :              Tyler Cook  (Iowa) 1 - LA Lakers :      Talen Horton-Tucker (ISU) 1 - Phoenix :      Abdel Nader (ISU) 0 - Boston 0 - Atlanta 0 - Milwaukee 0 - Miami 0 - New York 0 - Washington 0 - Philadelphia 0 - LA Clippers 0 - Dallas 0 - Memphis Playoff Results (11-3) Let's see how the blog's rooting interests did....

Profile Bill Jones was  center for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1984-88 before playing in the NBA with the New Jersey Nets*.  Bill played professionally from 1988 to 2001, including a couple of stops with the Quad City Thunder**.   * Undrafted and did get a Hoops card! ** Bill was an All-Star in 1995, some notables from that game: Tim Legler, George McCloud, Flip Saunders, and Kevin Pritchard Personal Notes Those Hawkeye teams Bill Jones was a part of were some of the best in Iowa history.  These players played professionally afterwards:  B.J. Armstrong, Roy Marble, Al Lorenzen, Kevin Gamble , Les Jepsen, Brad Lohaus, Gerry Wright, and Ed Horton. Collection Notes I have 1/3 (33%) cards in my collection.

        Profile Dr. Jamie Williams was a former tight end from Davenport (with Roger Craig ), who played at Nebraska and then 12 years in the pros.  He was drafted in the 1983 draft* by the Giants**.  He won the Super Bowl with the 49ers.  Jamie didn't stop just because he retired.  He completed a Doctorate of Education in Organization and Leadership, and now works at the University of Maryland. * Iowa connections in the 1983 draft: Roger Craig (2nd Davenport),  Jamie Williams (3rd Davenport), Karl Nelson (3rd ISU), Pat Dunsmore (4th Drake), Brett Miller (5th UofI), Reggie Roby (6th UofI), Mark Bortz (8th UofI) ** Drafted by the Giants, but never played there.  Played first season with St. Louis (Cardinals), then five with Houston (Oilers), 5 in San Fransisco, and 1 in Los Angeles (Raiders).  Personal Notes Nothing terribly enlightening here today, just an acknowledgement that I enjoyed reading his Wikipedia page and seeing "Dr. Jam...

Profile Lance Olberding is a offensive lineman who went to school at the University of Iowa* and Kirkwood.  He played semipro football for the Randolph Oilers of the Eastern Football League.  He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 7th round of the 1992 draft**. * Iowa had three NFL lineman from this line: Rob Baxley, Mike Devlin and Scott Davis ** Iowa Connections in 1992 Draft: Tyji Armstrong (3rd Iowa Central CC), Ron Geater (7th UofI), T.J. Rubley (9th Davenport), Mike Saunders (10th UofI), Rob Baxley (11th UofI), Matt Rodgers (12th UofI)  Personal Notes So, this is a tough one.  Not much info on Mr. Olberding in my quick search.  Went to Iowa, and was drafted in the 1992 Draft.  However, he never played a snap for the Hawkeyes.  (What?)  He played in the Eastern Football League (what is that?)  He was a bouncer at the time, and Cincinnati thought he was a project and threw a 7th round pick at him.  I can't tell why he l...

      Ellsworth Community College This is a page where I will list all sorts of Ellsworth Community College alumni who have trading cards.  This is not a complete list, but I will update as I move along. Baseball Johnathan Fleek Mike Ungs Basketball Larry Knight Football Dale Carter Lamar McGriggs Scott Rislov Jaleel Scott Don Wilson Mike Woods

Profile Earl Whitehill was born in Cedar Rapids and grew up to be a major league pitcher with Detroit, Washington, Cleveland and Chicago.  Earl won 218 games throughout the 20s and 30s* and was often amongst the tops league in wins, games started, and hit batters**. * The decades 1920s and 1930s, or his twenties and thirties?   Both, as Whitehill was born in 1900! ** Whitehill knocked Lou Gehrig unconscious during his games streak.  Gehrig finished the game Personal Notes Earl Whitehill's Wikipedia page  mentions that he had a celebrity marriage to Violet Geissinger.  So what constitutes a celebrity marriage in the 1920s?  In 2020, its pretty fluid, I mean you could have a celebrity marriage between YouTube stars now.  Well, Violet was the The Sun-Maid Raisin Girl.   Collection Notes I have 1/25 (4%) cards in my collection.

        Profile Dale Carter was an All-Pro defensive back* in the NFL playing 14 years.  He was drafted in the 1992 NFL draft out of Tennessee, but started his college career at Ellsworth College**.   * Other accolades: 4x Pro Bowler,  All-American, and Defensive Rookie of the Year ** Other NFLers from Ellsworth: Ken Bishop, Mistral Raymond, Andre Tippett, and Jaleel Scott  Personal Notes To be quite honest, Dale Carter is one of the better players to come from an Iowa college.  All-Pro, ROY, All-American and 4x Pro Bowler are accolades not many can match.  In his bio for the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame there is nothing but praise for his time at Ellsworth and the team's success. If you look at his Wikipedia page however, you see part of why his memory has faded.  Ejected for kicking Michael Irvin.  Suspended for a year for his 4th substance abuse violation.  These, and for whatever ...

  Profile Mitch Keller is a MLB pitcher from Cedar Rapids who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2014 MLB Draft*.  Mitch made his debut in 2019 and started 5 games in the goofy 2020** season.   * Iowa Connections in 2014 Draft: Derek Hill (1st  Des Moines), Keller (2nd Cedar Rapids), Jake Peter (7th Mason City), Jake Yacinish (8th UofI), Erik Swanson (8th Iowa Western), Damek Tomscha (17th Sioux City), Quinn Carpenter (17th Iowa Western), Dom Thompson-Williams (19th Iowa Western), Alec Crawford (25th DMACC), Scott Harris (27th Buena Vista), Keaton McKinney (28th Ankeny), Ryan Lillard (30th Urbandale), Taylor Zeutenhorst (38th UofI), Sasha Kuebel (38th UofI) ** We have yet to see how the 2020 season will affect the development of these players, something to watch  Personal Notes Mitch's brother Jon also plays in MLB as a member of the Baltimore organization.  There was a story about the two playing catch in 2020, and the precautions that ...