Harty: Statues are for legends like Hayden Fry
Excited to announce the Hayden Fry statue will be revealed on FRYday, September 2nd! pic.twitter.com/VFpdJvwVnR
— FRYfest (@FRYfest) May 20, 2016
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Statues used to creep me out, but not anymore.
Being around the Dan Gable statue that stands proudly near the west entrance of Carver-Hawkeye Arena and the Nile Kinnick statue that greets fans on the south entrance of Kinnick Stadium has helped to cure me.
I no longer put statues in the same creepy category as clowns and mascots.
In most cases, a statue represents greatness and pays tribute to somebody whose life touched so many others in a positive way.
To have a statue made in your honor is the ultimate show of respect because it happens so infrequently.
Kinnick earned his statue by winning Iowa’s only Heisman Trophy and by dying as a hero in the service of his country.
Gable built the Iowa wrestling program into one of the greatest dynasties in the history of sports – winning 15 national titles – before a statue was made in his honor.
And now it’s Hayden Fry’s turn to be honored with a statue for rebuilding the Iowa football program at a time when maybe only Andy Dufresne from the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" thought there still was hope.
A bronze statue of Fry will be unveiled on Sept. 2 during FRY Fest. The life-size image is based on Fry’s 1980s look, from the hat and pullover jacket with the Tiger-hawk logo to the sansasbelt slacks, old Pony shoes and sunglasses.
The statue is vintage Fry with exception to not having a mustache.
It is also well-deserved.
Fry didn’t win a bunch of national titles like Gable did, or even one for that matter. But Fry ended nearly two decades of football futility.
Iowa had been bad in football for so long when Fry took over shortly after the 1978 season that winning almost seemed inconceivable.
The four previous head coaches – Jerry Burns, Ray Nagel, Fran Lauterbur and Bob Commings – had failed to end the misery and were fired as a result.
In Fry’s case, the fifth time became a charm as he used his Texas wit, his knowledge of the game and a talented coaching staff to do the improbable.
Fry rebuilt the Iowa program and created a culture that still exists today under Kirk Ferentz, who replaced Fry as head coach in 1998.
Hawkeye football certainly isn’t life or death in the big scheme of things.
But it’s more than just a game.
The money generated on a football Saturday in Iowa City is staggering.
Fry’s influence also went beyond just wins and losses and money.
He connected with the community. He embraced the plight of the farmers. And he turned teenagers into responsible young men.
Before he came to Iowa, Fry broke the color barrier as the head coach at Southern Methodist University by recruiting the first black player (Jerry Levias) to the Southwest Conference.
Fry loves football, but he loves people even more.
Fry also obeyed the rules as a head coach and had fun along the way.
In all my years of covering and watching Hawkeye athletics, Fry’s rebuilding job ranks as the most significant thing to happen.
Gable’s wrestling dynasty was success at a whole different level, but its impact pales in comparison to the revival under Fry because with football everything is magnified.
If anybody deserves a statue, it’s the 87-year old Fry, who now lives in Mesquite, Nev.
You could argue that he was the savior of Hawkeye athletics because the machine can’t operate at full strength unless the football program is thriving.
Fry rescued the football program from disarray and despair and became a legend along the way.
A now, he has a road named after him in Coralville, and soon to be a statue.
It’s our way of saying thanks forever.