Saturday was the last game for the Hawkeyes in Kinnick Stadium until the annual spring practice in April. There are still two games remaining on the Iowa schedule, one in West Lafayette, IN this week, and then a border battle at Lincoln, NE on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
The closing of the home schedule carries mixed emotions. Kinnick Stadium is one of the finer venues for college football, and such a nice facility is only used for seven Saturdays in the Fall. It is always sad to see that portion of the schedule come to and end.
And it is the last time we get pampered by the staff at The Hotel at Kirkwood, the team hotel when playing home games. This is the first time The Hotel has hosted the Hawkeyes, and it could become the first of many years.
On the final home Friday night, former Major League and University of Iowa pitcher Cal Eldred stopped by The Hotel to talk to the team. He shared his baseball experiences and related them to the final home game of many Hawkeye Seniors.
What has also become a tradition are the families waiting for the team to pass by on the way to Kinnick Stadium Saturday mornings. Every week the same individuals hold their posters, cheer loudly and encourage their one night a week neighbors for a good performance in Iowa City.
And on the last day the Hawkeye Seniors are well represented. Not only do the players get their time to be recognized by the crowd in attendance, but staff members also are introduced to the sell-out crowd. Above are the Senior Video members.
Three eras of sports information are represented above. In the middle is Phil Haddy. Haddy has been Sports Information Director since the mid-90s and is nearing retirement, with this being his last home game in that capacity. On the right is George Wine, who preceded Haddy. And on the left is Phil's replacement, Steve Roe who has been the assistant SID since the early 90s.
And with the video crew of Michigan State. Tom Shepherd and Matt Harper are born-Spartan fans with Shepherd nearing the end of his illustrious career.
Saturday was the last game for the Hawkeyes in Kinnick Stadium until the annual spring practice in April. There are still two games remaining on the Iowa schedule, one in West Lafayette, IN this week, and then a border battle at Lincoln, NE on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
2 comments:
Who was the pitcher that stopped by to talk? It doesn't say in the blog. Just curious.
Thanks for seeing that. I added Cal Eldred's name to the post. Cal is a great guy coming from a well-known small baseball community in Eastern Iowa
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