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The Jack Trice storyKMTOK'S \OTK: Jack Trice was the first black football plaer at Iowa State I niver-sity. He died of injuries suffered in the onl\ varsitx game he plaved in 1923. I hestors was forgotten for 5M sears until a drise began to name Iowa State's new football stadium after Trice, t PI reporter lt;harles h Schoffner takes a look at the controverss that has developed over naming the stadium and also recounts in detail the Trice stors.Bv ( II \RI.KS I). St I If IFF \ Kitt nited Press InternationalThis is the story of Jack Trice, a football player from Iowa State University's past But it’s much more than a sports stors It s also a storv of courage and high ideals Its the story ot a letter And it's the storv of how a manft, y-tforgotten for ro years became in voiced in a controversy over thenaming of a stadium Trice, a sturd\ tackle, vuis Iowa State's first black player lb* played inonly one varsity game* in his careeragainst Minnesota on Oct t. 1923 That one game cost him his life Trice was taken out of the game after he* was run over by three* Minnesota players in the third quarter Hedied two da vs later*The sior\ was virtualh forgotten after Trice was buried in his home town of Hiram Ohio Hut m 1972 an English instructor at Iowa State Alan Beals found a plaque honoring Trice in the Old State Gym at IS1 Beals and some students researchedttii' stors and out of that grew a*campaign to name loss a State's new $7 million football stadium, which opened last fall, in honor of Trice However, there also is a strong feeling to call the facility Cyclone Stadium. Cyclones txung the nickname of the ISl’ athletic teams Since then the issue has been kicked hack and forth among the ad ministration, a special committee chosen to name the stadium, the Iowa Board ot Regents and the Iowa State Cmversits Foundation, which holds!. ftthe title to the facility The con-. :troversv could continue for anotherthree nr tour years-.“I ho|x*d it would never fe con troversial. said Beals, now academic counselor in the I mversitv of Pinsburgh Athletic Department“Naming a stadium after a black neelt;Jn't be such a great thing I continue to be* moved bv the storv of Jac k• VTrice My experience of rediscoveringthe storv is something no one else has hadThe Trice story is indeed moving Through research by Beals. ISl Professor Charles Sohn and others, it has been pieced together Trice's grandparents were slaves, but his father. Green, moved to nor theast Ohio to work as a farm laborer Green Trice wanted an education so badly he started grade school at age 26. He died when Jack was a youngster After Trice had completed the eighth grade, his mother, Anna, sent him to Cleveland so he could be ex posed to the pressures he would face later in lifeAt Cleveland East Tech High School Trice became a star athlete. When hisfootball coach, Sam Willaman, wasnamed head coach at Iowa State. Trice and six other Tech athletes followed him west Trice majored in animal husbandry His goal was tosettle in the South after his graduation and help the farmers of that area Although he barely had enough credits to gain conditional admission, records in the registrar's of fice show he had a grade average ot90On the football field he was out standing He was on the freshman team in 1922 and the following year w as l hought to be all-conference material But the promising career-ended abruptly Trice didn't play in Iow a State's first two games at Nebraska and Missouri because ot concern over his race Bui the team stood behind him and he started against Minnesota, considered die best team in the Midwest that yearh.At halftime, with Iowa State trailing 14-10, Trice complained of a sore shoulder, but returned to play the final two quarters Midway through the* third period Minnesota ran a play off left tackle Trice saw he could not reach the trail carrier so he threw himself across the Minnesota interference in a roll block. He ended up on his back and was trampled Trice wanted to keep playing butnever returned to the game. Newspaper accounts said the crowd chanted. We re sorrv Ames. We resorry Ames *Doctors at a Minneapolis hospital said Trice could return to Ames with the team, which lost the game 20-17. He rode back on the train Sunday, sleeping on a straw mattress, and was taken to the university hospital. Only then was it discovered that he had played most ot the first half with a broken collarbone Late Sunday afternoon his breathing became irregular lbs condition worsened that night On Monday at-ternoon Jack Trice died of heinorr liaged lungs and internal bleeding. Hewas 21 vears old.*On the campus the next day about 4.000 persons attended funeral services for Trice the onlv 1SIJ athlete•k-in history to die as the result of collegiate sports competition. A letter Trice had written to himself the nightbefore (In* game was read to thecrowd. The moving words, written on Curtis Hotel stationary, are the maininspiration for those who want to name the stadium in honor of Trice. The letter read:“My thoughts just before the first real college game of my life:“The honor of my race, family and* •'soil are at stake. Kvervone is ex•k-pecting me to do big things 1 will Mywhole body and soul are to be thrown%recklessly about the field.%/Every time (tie ball is snapped. I will be trying to do more than my part Fight low, with your eyes open and toward the play Watch out for crossbucks and reverse end runs. Be on your toes every minute if you ex-% %■ dpect to make good.Those words are inscribed on the plaque found bv Beals, who said it was covered with bird droppings and dust Only someone really looking for the plaque could have found it Those who knew Trice remember him well Among them is Howard Johnson of Oskaloosa, who had asummer school class with Trice inHe was a very nice young man. Johnson said in an interview My recollection was that he was very dedicated and hoped to go back down South 1 don't remember too much of what was said about him. but other members ot the class were very impressed with this black student As the movement to name the stadium in honor of Trice grew, the university administration appointed a special committee to choose a name for the facility Several names were considered, including Jack Trice Memorial Stadium, but the committee voted 11 -Jin favor ot (v clone Stadium•rThe dissenting votes were cast by the three students on the committee, who said polls had shown students overwhelmingly favored naming the stadium for TriceFrom the committee the recommendation was passed on to the ISl Foundation, then to the Board ot Regents But the regents balked, saving they didn't think it was proper to name a facility that didn’t actually belong to the university. They agreed to take up the matter alter the stadium was paid for and the title transferred from the foundation to the school, which won't occur for three or fourvears%Students and others associated with the Trice movement were suprised and delighted by the board's deferral For the lxard to overturn an official university committee I would have thought the chances to be one in a million,” said Jill Wagner, president of the student body The ISt Foundation, however, voted in early June to ask the regents to approve the name Cyclone Stadium Board President Mary Louise Peters en made note of the recommendation at the regents’ June meeting, leaving open an opportunity for a board mem her to tiring it up No one responded and the board moved on to other business.Unless another move is made to get the issue before the regents, the Iowa State football team will be playing in a nameless stadium for the next few seasons. The facility will be referredft.to simply as Iowa State’s stadium, with the possessive emphasized.Wagner believes the delay will offer a true test of whether the sentiment for Trice w ill continue. And at least one member of the Board of Regents thinks it may allow any ill feelings that have developed to cooloff.“There is a decisive atmosphere now about this,” said regent Steven Zumbach of West Des Moines. “Bv delaying the decision, it hopefully will give a chance for the air to be clearedUntil then the Trice supporters say they will be hard at work for their cause Their thoughts probably could be summed up in an editorial that appeared in the Seattle Post Intelligencer shortly after Trice’sdeath.The letter is his monument,” the paper said, and it is a monument of which his race, and his family, and his college, and his country may be proud ‘‘Only a game till John Trice made it a beacon.”The Trice movement wants thatbeacon to shine forever
Newspaper Details
Ames Daily Tribune
Ames, Iowa, US
Sat, Jun 19, 1976
Page 4
Full Page
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Anonymous
USA 23 Jun 2020
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