If You Build It, They Will Come

        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, ...

    Iowa Western Community College This is a page where I will list all sorts of Iowa Western alumni who have trading cards.  This is not a complete list, but I will update as I move along. Baseball Jeff Barnard Marty Barnett Anthony Bemboom Joe Biernat Dustin Bolton Chris Botsoe Sam Bumpers Vicente Cafaro Ricardo Calderon Sean Chandler Jason Christiansen Kevin Dooley Tom Ebert Brian Feekin Dan Forer Chris Fye Tony Ghelfi Tyson Gillies Jeremy Horst Dan Johnson Grant Kay Klint Klaas Kirby Krueger Derek Landis Matt Lane Steven Leonard Matt Lloyd Rich Longuil Jerry Mack Tom McHugh Brett Mieras Russ Morman Jake Petricka Eric Porter Jextin Pugh Andy Roberts Justin Roelle Jake Scudder Chris Shanahan Keaton Steele Michael Strong Erik Swanson Dom Thompson-Williams Brandon Tierney Daniel Tillo Jimmy Tjader Mike Valla Casper Van Rynbach Tom Waldrop Dave Wall Shayne Willson Keaton Winn Basketball Ron Boone Football Geronimo Allison Rodney Coe Deon Long Sebastian Tretola Jake Waters

        Profile Harrison Barnes is a two time Iowa 4A State Basketball champion from Ames*, who went on to the NBA being drafted by Golden State in the 2012 NBA draft**.  Harrison won a title with Golden State, and also won a gold medal in 2016.   * Harrison played with future NBAer Doug McDermott on the team ** Iowa Connections in the draft: Barnes (1.7 Ames), Royce White (1.16 ISU), Justin Hamilton (2.45 ISU)  Personal Notes Harrison Barnes is a fun guy to read about.  Born and raised in Ames, he has shown success all through his life.  Academic success, athletics success, business success, and life success.  I love this generation of young stars who have their athletic careers but put that privilege they have from it and use it to build careers outside of playing and use it to help others. Collection Notes I have 44/2279 (2%) cards in my collection.

        Profile Conor Dwyer was an Olympic swimmer that spent his first couple of years at the University of Iowa before transferring to Florida to complete his college career.  Conor won 2 gold medals and 1 bronze medal combined at the 2012* and 2016 Olympics.   * Other 2012 Iowa Olympic Competitors: Gabby Douglas (Des Moines) Gold Medals All-Around/Team Gymnastics ** Other 2016 Iowa Olympic Competitors: Matt Stutzman(Fairfield) Silver Medal Paralympics Archery Personal Notes So....he attended Iowa for two years and left for greener pastures and you still collect him?   Well, yes.  I can hold two thoughts in my head at the same time; that Iowa is a great state, and sometimes to succeed you need to leave Iowa.  I live in Ohio now due to my job, and I assume Conor left Iowa to attend a college that had a better program to help him achieve his dreams.  You can't fault that.   But...did you read his wikipedia page?  He g...

   CFL 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 Alaric Jackson, 2nd, Iowa 2021 - Global Matt Leo, 4th, ISU Niklas Gustav, 4th, Morningside 2017 Faith Ekakitie, 1st, Iowa 2016 Tavau Smith, 1st, Iowa 2013 Nolan MacMillan, 1st, Iowa 2012 Cleyon Laing, 1st, ISU 2005 Anthony Posteraro, 4th, Graceland 2002 Reid Seitz, 3rd, UNI 1999 Trevor Bollers, 1st, Iowa 1996 Sheldon Napastuk, 3rd, ISU 1995 John Murphy, 1st, Morningside 1978 Dan Taylor, 1st, Iowa Central

        Profile Wayne Fontes is a former NFL coach with the Detroit Lions from 1988-1996.  Wayne own the franchise records for wins (and losses), won Coach of the Year in 1991*, and has a National Championship with USC as an assistant in 1972.  He was the defensive backs coach with the University of Iowa from 1969-1971**.  I mean, its not a coincidence that USC brings in a coach from Iowa and they win the National Championship the next year, right? * Won the division, and lost to eventual champion Mark Rypien and the Washington Football Team.  That was a fun team to watch, wasn't it.  ** Wayne coached future NFLer Craig Clemons who played 6 years in the pros Personal Notes Wayne Fontes joins the Iowa Collection bringing with him a National Championship and Coach of the Year trophy.  However, I would wager that he wouldn't have the fondest of memories in his time in the Hawkeye state.  He came to Iowa after coaching at Dayton, a...

     NBA 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.  Currently, there eight years out of the 73 years that do not have a relevant Iowa basketball player (1950, 1954, 1955, 1972, 1994, 2005, 2009, 2011). Pre-Draft Era Hal Crisler, ISU 1947 Dick Ives, Iowa Herb Wilkinson, Iowa 1948 Ray Wehde, ISU Murray Wier, Iowa Gordon Flick, Drake 1949 John Pritchard, 7th, Drake Bill Evans, Drake 1951 John Rennicke, 6th, Drake Frank Clasbeek, 6th, Iowa 1952 Chuck Darling, 1st, Iowa Bob Clifton, Iowa 1953 Delmer Diercks, ISU 1956 Bill Logan, 5th, Iowa Carl Cain, Iowa 1957 Gary Thompson, 5th, ISU Phil Murrell, 6th, Drake 1958 Phil Murrell, 4th, Drake John Crawford, 6th, ISU Don Medsker, 12th, ISU 1959 Dave Gunther, 8th, Iowa 1960 Americas John-Lewis, 10th, Iowa 1961 Hank Whitney, 4th, ISU Gus Guydon, 4th, Drake Stacey Arceneaux, UDFA, ISU 1962 Don Nelson , 3rd, Iowa Jerry Foster, 6th, Drake Vince Brewe...

        Profile Keaton Steele is a pitcher from Iowa Western* (and Missouri) who was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 8th round of the 2014 MLB draft**.  Keaton is currently pitching for Sioux City  * Iowa Western won the 2012 NJCAA title in 2012 with a freshman Keaton as the MVP. ** Keaton was also drafted in the 29th round in 2012 and 40th round in 2013.  Personal Notes Keaton played in the minors with Cedar Rapids and in the Independent League with Sioux City.  Both of these are Iowa towns, and this brings a question.  With the assumption that a player probably lives in the area where they are playing (minor league seasons are typically April to September, 5-6 months), that means that there are all sorts of players who lived in Iowa who played major league baseball.  And you know what?  I'm totally going to ignore it.  I could try to justify it with logic (if I travel for work to Orlando, I'm not a Florida resident, eve...

        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....

Today we have a new collection of cards for the 2021 ICY set.  These 3 cards honor the selection of the Bob Stoops, Andre Tippett and Darren Sproles to the College Football Hall of Fame Iowa Hawkeyes Waterloo