By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – There is certainly some bias in this statement, but this is how I feel:

The Iowa football team has two of the greatest traditions in college sports; one that started less than a decade ago with the Wave, and one that has been steeped in tradition for nearly 90 years with Floyd of Rosedale.

In both cases, the message goes far beyond the importance of winning or losing a football game.

The Wave, which started in 2017, happens at the end of the first quarter of Iowa home games when everybody in Kinnick Stadium, including the players, coaches and game-day personnel from both teams, turn and wave to the children on the 10th floor of the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, which is located across the street from the stadium.

What started as a suggestion by a Hawkeye fan on Facebook is now a major part of the game-day experience at Kinnick Stadium.

Fans still get emotional during those few minutes as the Wave is performed, and the Wave is now synonymous with Hawkeye football.

Floyd of Rosedale, on the other hand, has been connected to Hawkeye football for decades, dating back to the mid-1930s when Iowa running back Ozzie Simmons was abused both physically and verbally by members of the Minnesota football team just because he was black.

Iowa fans were so upset with the abuse that Simmons endured during a 48-12 loss to the Gophers in 1934, that threats were made to storm the field in the days leading up to the 1935 rematch in Iowa City if Simmons was mistreated again.

The day before the game, Iowa Gov. Clyde Herring issued what could sort of be viewed as a warning, or even a threat, to the Minnesota players if they mistreated Simmons.

“Those Minnesotans will find ten other top-notch football players besides “Oze” Simmons against them this year; moreover, if the officials stand for any rough tactics like Minnesota used last year, I’m sure the crowd won’t.” 

Herring’s statement quickly reached Minnesota head coach Bernie Bierman who then threatened to break off athletic relations.

As the bad blood and threats continued to grow, Minnesota Gov. Floyd B. Olson knew he had to lighten the mood, so he sent the following telegram to Iowa Gov. Herring on game-day morning. “Dear Clyde, Minnesota folks are excited over your statement about the Iowa crowd lynching the Minnesota football team. If you seriously think Iowa has any chance to win, I will bet you a Minnesota prize hog against an Iowa prize hog that Minnesota wins today.” 

Herring accepted Olson’s challenge and Minnesota would go on to win the 1935 game 13-6 in a game that was played without major incident.

Herring brought a live pig to the Minnesota Capitol building in St. Paul and took it inside to Gov. Olson. The hog was dubbed “Floyd” after the Minnesota governor, and “Rosedale” for the animal’s Iowa birthplace. Floyd of Rosedale started as a game trophy, but he ended up as a typical farm animal in southeast Minnesota.

Floyd, the pig, died of cholera in July 1936 and was buried on the farm six miles from Iowa, almost exactly halfway between the two schools. A bronze statue of a pig has since replaced the animal as the football’s annual prize to the winner.

Iowa plays four trophy games with the others against Iowa State, Wisconsin and Nebraska, and each is special and unique in its own way.

Floyd of Rosedale stands out, however, because of how long it has been a part of Iowa’s football tradition, and for what it represents.

It took a lot of courage for Ozzie Simmons to come from his home in Fort Worth, Texas to play football for Iowa at a time when few blacks played college football.

It also took a lot of courage and character for the University of Iowa to be at the forefront in the push for racial equality at a time when most schools weren’t as receptive to having black players on the roster.

The Iowa football program, and current head coach Kirk Ferentz, took a beating from the media in the summer of 2020 after multiple former black players had accused the program of racial disparities.

Kirk Ferentz admitted to having a blind spot, and vowed to fix the culture.

It was easy to forget in the wake of the allegations about all the pro-active steps that UI officials and coaches have taken in the quest for racial equality.

Forest Evashevski built Iowa into a national power in the 1950s, and he did so with a lot of help from black players that included the legendary Calvin Jones and star running backs Bob Jeter and Willie Fleming.

Unlike many head coaches at the time, Evashevski didn’t care about the color of your skin if you could play football.

Hayden Fry rebuilt the Iowa program in the early 1980s and would go on to win three Big Ten titles during 20 seasons as head coach.

But prior to coming to Iowa, Fry also broke the color barrier in the Southwest Conference by recruiting the first black player, Jerry LeVias, to Southern Methodist University in the mid-1960s.

Frank Kinney Holbrook was the first African-American intercollegiate athlete at the University of Iowa and the Tipton native led the Iowa football team in scoring in 1896 and to its first conference football title in program history that same season.

To help put the timing of when Holbrook played at Iowa in perspective, former Alabama running back Wilbur Jackson was the first black player to be offered a scholarship by Alabama in the early 1970s, and more than 70 years after Holbrook had played for Iowa.

The best thing about Floyd of Rosedale, besides what it represents, is that Iowa is on the right side of history.

That won’t have anything to do with the outcome of Saturday’s game.

Or, maybe it will because the Iowa players know what Floyd represents and what role Iowa played in establishing the tradition,

“You get to touch him and bring him into the locker room after a win,” said Iowa senior linebacker Jack Campbell. “It just feels amazing. It’s so special, and knowing Minnesota wants the same thing for themselves.

“It just makes it so special.”