Monthly Archives: September 2013
Jack Trice at Simpson College
When I flew back to Iowa in late August, one of my planned trips was Simpson College where I wanted to see the Ames vs. Simpson game program from 1923 that helped crack the mystery of Jack Trice’s jersey number (which I originally wrote about here). The college is located in the small town of Indianola just south of Des Moines and after a pleasant drive through some rolling hills, I reached the campus.
Searching for a game picture of Jack Trice
While searching for Jack Trice’s jersey number, I kept out hope for finding more pictures of Trice, especially during a game. Only a small handful of pictures of Trice at Iowa State exist and the last pictures were from the spring game in 1923. Everyone I talked to at Iowa State from the archives to the athletic department told me there were no game pictures with Trice from the Simpson and Minnesota games that fall. Was this true?
Iowa State College’s 1923 schedule had four home and four away games:
September 29 – SIMPSON
October 6 – at Minnesota
October 13 – at Missouri
October 20 – KANSAS STATE
October 27 – at Washington (Mo.)
November 3 – at Drake
November 17 – NEBRASKA
November 24 – GRINNELL
Pictures of the games themselves are exceedingly rare. Would I be able to find any pictures of him on the gridiron? During a visit to the Des Moines Library, I flitted through microfilm rolls that teased me with dark pictures of the Simpson game. I knew he was in these pictures and I spent hours in Photoshop trying to tease out details, but ultimately had to admit failure. Note: one of the pictures shows the cannon being fired during the opening kickoff.
Kagavi interviews Barry Friedman
When I was working with Pendleton to create my Iowa State stadium blanket, I asked the archives many questions about the heritage and history of Pendleton and I was told, “You should talk to Barry.” Well then. Barry Friedman spent decades as a comedy writer in Hollywood before retreating to the deserts of Arizona to indulge in a passion for Indian trade blankets. I fired off an email to him and before I knew it, I had a copy of his book Chasing Rainbows in my hands.
Published in 2002, Chasing Rainbows is widely considered one of the best books on the subject of Indian trade blanket history. Such noted collectors as Ralph Lauren and Robert Redford were equally smitten with the book as I was. If you have any smidgen of interest in this subject, I highly recommend his book, which can be purchased through Barry’s official site here.
Two linemen
Two linemen haunt me.
One is Jack Trice, a tall broad man with a soft smile who became Iowa State University’s first Black athlete in 1922. He suffered fatal injuries in his first major football game against Minnesota in 1923 and died two days later leaving behind a young widow and an enormous legacy.
The other is Grandpa, a towering influential figure in my life who traded in decades of hard work on power lines in a small Illinois town for the lapping waves of a nearby river house. During summers of boating, he enthralled us with rollicking stories of youthful adventures and crucial life lessons. He died abruptly a few years ago after being diagnosed mere months earlier with aggressive cancer that had spread everywhere.
Grandpa’s death led me into the mystery of Jack Trice’s missing jersey number. Along the way, my wife and I formed a company named Kagavi, held together by the legacy of two linemen. Jack is Grandpa. Grandpa is Jack. This is their story.
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PART ONE
I’ve always been drawn to Jack’s story as an underdog, because I am one. I was born deaf and grew up in Ames, Iowa in the shadow of Iowa State University. From an early age, I was very aware of being different–my first hearing aids were so big I had to wear them on my chest. There was no hiding from my challenges, but the lack of sound didn’t bother me too much. I already had it figured out. One night as my mother tucked me in bed, I happily told her I would be able to hear like my older brother when I grew up.
