If You Build It, They Will Come

        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 If you are making a list of Iowa State football players to profile, Troy Davis is near the top. Troy played for ISU from 1994 to 1996 and broke nearly every rushing record at the school.  He ran for over 2000 yards in consecutive years*, and finished in the top 5 for Heisman** twice.   After a few years in the NFL, Troy played  up in the CFL winning the Grey Cup with the Edmonton Eskimos. * 2000 yards in consecutive years is crazy (especially considering 11 games), but looking at college history, the mind is blown when looking at Barry Sanders' Heisman season when he rushed for 2850! ** Troy finished second his junior year behind Danny Wuerffel.  He also lost the Doak Walker Award to Bryan Hanspard, still baffling today. Personal Notes The CFL is another spot where you can gather cards of Iowa greats.  Here's what I have found: Iowa Hawkeyes - Kenny Ploen, Randy Duncan, Bob Jeter, Larry Ferguson, ...

        Profile Trev Alberts was a linebacker for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the early 90s, who was a consensus All-American in 1993*.  He was drafted #5 overall in the 1994 draft** by the Indianapolis Colts, but injures limited his career to three years.  Trev was born in Cedar Falls, and now works as the athletics director at UNO (University of Nebraska-Omaha).   * Alberts also won the Jack Lambert Award for best linebacker, also won by Iowa's Josey Jewell in 2017 ** 1994 NFL Draft Iowa Connections: Mike Wells (4th UofI) and Kurt Warner (Undrafted  UNI) Personal Notes I wonder if Trev thinks about his pro career much.  He was a dominant player in college, garnering many awards and played for a national championship with Nebraska.  But injuries derailed his pro career and he was done.  One could reasonably wallow a while wondering why his talent went to waste, but Trev didn't do that.  He pushed himself into other jobs....

        Profile Steve Alford was a former All-American player at Indiana University before heading to the NBA for 4 years.  Steve played on the Men's Basketball team in the Olympics in 1984 winning the gold medal.  After his playing was over, he became a coach for a number of basketball teams**, notable the Iowa Hawkeyes (why else are we here) and currently at Nevada. * Jon Koncak (Cedar Rapids) was also on the team ** Missouri St, Iowa, New Mexico, UCLA and Nevada Personal Notes There are many "sport sins" that sports fans take judgement on.  Here in Ohio, Jim Tressel had the sin of punting too much (minor) and John Cooper had the sin of not beating Michigan (major).  You see it in Iowa as well, with ISU fans demanding only 1 win a year, against Iowa of course.   Steve Alford coached 8 seasons with the Iowa Hawkeyes, but no longer coaches them so he must have committed a sports sin as most coaches do.  Most coaches fail some sort o...