The Iowa Hawkeyes and all of college football lost a legend yesterday. Hayden Fry took over a struggling Iowa football program in 1979 after 17 consecutive losing seasons. What he did was not only win football games, but give the program its identity.
Fry brought a charisma and confidence Iowans had seldom seen. He allowed them to show that bravado themselves. He created a winning program out of thin air and branded it with his own creation: the tigerhawk.
Everything Fry did for Iowa lives on today. He went on to coach for 20 seasons and left as Iowa’s winningest coach in history.