NFL
By: Brock Vierra
These words echo throughout Iowa State. “My thoughts just before the first real college game of my life: The honor of my race, family & 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 tomorrow. Every time the ball is snapped, I will be trying to do more than my part. On all defensive plays I must break through the opponents’ line and stop the play in their territory. Beware of mass interference. 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 expect to make good. Jack.” Those are the words that Jon Heacock, the defensive coordinator for Iowa State reads to his players before they play. Those words, so elegant, so powerful, so potent were written by Cyclones tackle Jack Trice in his hotel room, the night before he was gravely wounded in Minnesota.
Jack Trice was a black man born in Ohio in 1902. He made his way to Iowa State via his high school head football coach Sam Willaman who was hired by the university in the same role in 1922. At Iowa State, Trice was committed to not only improving himself but also the social and financial status of African Americans in the South. Studying Animal Husbandry, he planned to help out farmers in southern states upon graduation, farmers who were only 58 years removed from slavery and still victimized by both sharecropping and Jim Crow. Trice wanted to help improve their farms to be successful and profitable, escaping the remaining metaphorical chains put on black farmers from the plantation era.
During a trip up to Minneapolis to play the University of Minnesota, Jack Trice sat in his hotel room, the night before the game to write that letter. That letter would be seen after it was found in his suit during his funeral. See Jack Trice wrote that letter after being segregated from his team during their dinner. Yes, he could stay in said hotel but the sight of a black man eating and conversing amongst his teammates would be too much for those good ole Minnesotans of the 1920s. This was not new to Trice who was trying to elevate the status of black people, especially those in impoverished situations.
Trice would play the following day against Minnesota. He would not be alive by the time Iowa State was set to play their next game. A combination of pride paired with the lack of a proper medical staff allowed Trice to play despite suffering a broken collarbone on the second play of the game. He would then be taken to the ground by a then-legal chop block where a Minnesota ball carrier stepped on him, causing massive internal injuries. To this day, we have mixed accounts of what exactly happened but what we do know is that in the midst of the pile, Trice was under it and he was trampled by at least two more Minnesota players.
He would then be taken to a Minnesota hospital where Trice was a victim of medical malpractice. The doctors cleared Trice to travel home, the trip via rail would cause his death. Trice, the first black football player in Iowa State history was dead at the age of 21. He left behind a wife, a never fulfilled promise of a better tomorrow and a legacy that stays true till today.
Now there aren’t any confirmed reports that Minnesota players deliberately targeted Trice despite some articles written claiming such a thing occurred. However the treatment of Trice was so abhorrent, Iowa State refused to play Minnesota again. A refusal that lasted 66 years. Trice’s story would be rediscovered in the 1970’s and Iowa State’s stadium is named in his honor. It is the only FBS stadium to be named after a black man.
Trice was a man on a mission. Despite the blatant racism he faced throughout his life, he never wavered in his convictions or his goals. A mature mind at such a young age, we as a society were robbed of the potential of such a promising, young man. However though his life may have ended prematurely, his legacy has outlived everyone from his era. Jack Trice is a reminder of what we all can do despite the obstacles in our way.
Iowa State will continue to honor Jack Trice on Saturday when they make their way up to Cincinnati. A program that looked to be out of sorts notched their second conference win of the season (first being Oklahoma State) last week during the Jack Trice Legacy game when they defeated TCU, wearing the same style uniforms that Trice did 100 years ago. Carrying his memory, the Cyclones look to continue to turn the tide on their ill-fated season while remembering those powerful words Trice put on paper.
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