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.
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.
Iowa State baseball in 1957 College World Series
With each passing year, the ghosts of Iowa State baseball are slowly slipping away. As Iowa State University’s oldest varsity sport, baseball has always been imbued with the very fabric of summer. Warm languid breezes carrying the burnt embers of grilled meat. Peanut shells crunching underfoot and the rattle of Cracker Jack boxes. The glint of chain link dancing in the dying evening light. Sadly, Iowa State baseball was discontinued a dozen years ago in 2001 due to budget difficulties. During the shiny optimism of the 1950s, it would’ve seemed inconceivable that such a fate would befall the Cyclone team. The strongest echoes are from 56 years ago this week, when the Iowa State team–fresh off of their Big Seven title–was within a game of the national championship.
Iowa State’s Chris Taylor versus Andre the Giant
In the early 1970s, Iowa State University was the center of the college wrestling universe and one of its brightest stars was Chris Taylor. This year marked the 40th anniversary of Taylor’s second consecutive NCAA championship in 1973, capping an undefeated two year career at ISU. In between his two ISU championships, Taylor won a bronze medal at the controversial 1972 Summer Olympics. Taylor’s wrestling dominance in 1973 was so total, the Big 8 Conference named him Athlete of the Year. After ISU, Taylor had a brief career in the professional ranks with matches against Andre the Giant, Ric Flair, Baron von Raschke, and others. Mounting health problems led to his early death in 1979. Taylor was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2012.
