Eric Sellers
English 150
Mrs. Pagnac
Jack Trice
“My thoughts just before the first real college game of my life: “The honor of my race, family,
and self is at stake. Everyone is expecting me to do big things. I will. My whole body and soul are to be
thrown recklessly about the field. Every time the ball is snapped.
Figure 1: Plack of the Letter (lib.iastate)
I will be trying to do more than my part. Fight low, with your
eyes open and toward the play. Watch out for the crossbucks
and reverse end runs. Be on your toes every minute if you
expect to make good.” Jack (isualum.org). This was the letter
that he wrote the night before the game as shown in figure 1.
It was one part of Jack Trice’s time here that made him so
important to Iowa State.
Jack Trice was the first African- American to play
football for Iowa State University. In his first game against the
University of Minnesota, Jack broke his collar bone on the second play. Being the player that he was he
insisted he was ok, so he returned to the game. Then, in the third quarter the players from Minnesota
forced him to the ground and crushed him. Jack claimed to be fine, but was sent to the hospital. The
hospital declared him ok to move, so he returned to Ames with the team. On, October 8, Jack died from
the injuries that he received during the football game. His death was caused from internal bleeding,
which was a result of him being trampled.
Johnny (Jack) Trice was born in Hiram, Ohio in 1902. As a little kid Jack was very active in sports
and showed good athletic ability. In 1918, his mother sent him to Cleveland, Ohio to stay with his uncle.
He then went to East Technical High School where he played football. In 1922, Trice followed five of his
teammates and his coach to Iowa State University, where his coach accepted the coaching position.
Trice majored in animal husbandry, with the desire to go to the southern states and help the AfricanAmerican farmers to get started with the knowledge that he had gained, the summer after his freshman
year (public.iastate).
In 1973, the legacy of Jack Trice was renewed when a promotion to name the new stadium after
him was created. In 1974, the Iowa State University Government Student Body unanimously voted to
endorse the effort. In addition, the Jack Trice Stadium Committee compiled more than 3,000 signatures
of supporters. An ad hoc committee advised President Robert Parks to name the stadium Cyclone
Stadium. In 1984 the Stadium was named Cyclone Stadium and the playing field was named Jack Trice
Field. The GSB still wanted to do more to Honor Jack, so they raised money to erect a statue of him in
1987. Due to the persistence of the students, alumni, the faculty and staff, and other supporters the
stadium was finally named Jack Trice Stadium in 1997 (lib.iastate).
The Jack Trice memorial is located at the northeast entrance to
Figure 2: Photo of Jack Trice Statue
(airliners.net)
the stadium. The 1000lb statue was originally placed between Carver
hall and Beardshear Hall on the central campus. The statue of Trice is
made out of bronze; it is 15.5 feet by 11.3 feet by 6.5 feet, and it was
put up in 1988. The statue is an image of Trice with his foot up on a
concrete circular bench and resting one arm on his leg with the letter
he wrote in his hand and the other one are on his hip, while looking
down towards the letter and in deep thought as he reads it. Then
beside him there are books one is closed and says, Animal Husbandry
on it, and the other one is open like he was interrupted; also behind him there are his football cleats
that are a reminder of the game (muesems.iastate). Then in 1997, the statue was sent to Connecticut for
restoration, upon its return they installed it at the north entrance to Jack Trice Stadium
(muesems.iastate).
To me the statue is quite a striking statue. It is one that incorporates everything that Trice
accomplished in the short time that he was enrolled in Iowa State. It includes his famous letter that he
wrote before the big game, it also incorporates Trice’s studies that he was in by having the books from
his major sitting there beside him open to indicate how he was a good diligent student that he was.
Then behind him it has his cleats that represent that infamous game that he tried so hard to impress
everyone with, that in the end took his life because of the injuries that he received in the game. It also
has a somewhat of another meaning to me. It also represents in my mind how that since they didn’t
have good medical practices it could cause players who need it to slip under the radar and end up being
in great danger to their health. So to me the statue has quite a few different meanings. It shows how
you can do whatever you want to do. It just is how hard you try at it. At that time he was definitely doing
something that was new and he was going to give it his all. It didn’t matter how much the odds were
against him being an African-American in a public college.
Jack Trice was a very influential player in Iowa State’s history. Even though he had only a very
short time as a football player, he ended up making a big influence because he tried his hardest in the
short time he had. He took a big step by actually going to college and also he was good at sports so he
was actually able to go into an even more new area that had never been done before, in many ways he
set the bar at Iowa State to try something new and see how it goes no matter what others might think of
it. Trice was a person who even if he was around before the main mission at Iowa State was set he was a
person who was going to live it, he also showed it in the way of taking his knowledge and spreading to
the world and helping them out in the best way possible. This is one of the people who I think make
Iowa State a more interesting and diverse school.
The statue itself is one of the great pieces of art that gives the Iowa State area a more creative,
diverse, and welcoming places that are in the state of Iowa. It is one of the sports statues that bring in
the students and fans because of their interest. So it adds another new dimension to the art work by
targeting a different audience than some of the other pieces around the Iowa State area. So in the end,
Jack Trice is a memorable part of the overwhelmingly large history of Iowa State, and it is just one more
thing that makes Iowa State such a new and interesting place to go and be a part of.
http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/exhibits/150/template/trice.html
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/152943/
http://www.isualum.org/en/traditions/traditions_of_iowa_state/faces_and_places/jack_trice.cfm
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~isu150/history/trice.html
http://www.museums.iastate.edu/AOCFactSheetsPDF/jacktrice.pdf