Monthly Archives: October 2013
Jack Trice paintings by Mark Penxa
Yesterday the two Mark Penxa paintings of Jack Trice arrived at Kagavi headquarters. We previously interviewed Mark here and were glad to work with him on this project. Although the paintings are not strictly historically accurate, they capture the spirit of Trice in Mark’s signature style. They are even more awesome in person and we plan on giving one of them away in the near future as part of a contest related to our Kagavi x Pendleton vintage ISU stadium blanket. More details will come soon, but in the meantime, check them out again and visit Mark’s site here.
The enigma of Jack Trice’s gold jersey
In popular mythology, Jack Trice played football for Iowa State College in a cardinal jersey with gold friction strips. Earlier this season, when Iowa State University unveiled their throwback uniforms inspired by the 1923 team, the jerseys were cardinal with gold mock friction strips. However, does this common sentiment have any basis in reality? The colors of cardinal and gold can look remarkably similar in black and white photos and my research uncovered many questions and few answers. Ultimately, I believe Jack Trice and his teammates wore a gold jersey for the 1923 season including the infamous Minnesota game as well as for the spring game earlier that year. The sole exception was the Simpson game. Along the way, I caught wind of another exciting development in Trice’s story.
Before tackling the enigma of the gold jerseys, we need to consider the previous year, which was Coach Sam Willaman’s first at Iowa State after leading East Technical High School to multiple championships behind the talents of Trice and the Behm brothers. As Willaman soon discovered during the 1922 season, many of ISC’s opponents shared similar colors, which often led to confusing games. During the season opener against Coe, the Cyclone team was forced to wear two thick wool jerseys on top of one another to create the necessary contrast in the game. Making matters worse, it was a sunny summer day of 90 degrees.
Iowa State Alumni Center memorabilia
When I was in Ames this summer, I made some time to wander around the Alumni Center located on a hill halfway between Hilton Coliseum and Jack Trice Stadium. Unlike many other schools, Iowa State University doesn’t have a comprehensive sports hall of fame or museum, so many historical items are scattered throughout campus. The Alumni Center has a small but solid collection and I enjoyed seeing some of the vintage Cyclone items around the building. Here are some of my favorites.
The silver bat trophy of Iowa State
Many of you know I love the whiff of historical riddles and I thought there was another mystery on my hands when I learned about an obscure silver bat trophy that Iowa State played for in the 1890s. I was happy to see that the trophy was safely stored at the ISU archives and when I visited Ames, I made sure to see the trophy in person. The trophy was originally conceived as a traveling trophy between the colleges of Iowa and it was agreed the trophy would be permanently kept by the first team to win the state baseball “championship” in three different years. Below, we can see the Ames nine got off to a great start by winning the very first two years: 1893 and 1894. The bat features a game image along with the yearly winners of the series from 1893 to 1902.
