Idealist: Jack Trice and the Battle for A Forgotten Football Legacy
An essential story of understated courage, the lasting power of a name, and the battle to honor a pioneering legacy.

On the eve of his second varsity football game for the Iowa State Cyclones, Jack Trice wrote in a letter, "The honor of my race, family and self are at stake. Everyone is expecting me to do big things. I will!"

The introspective 21-year-old was ever aware of his status in 1923 as the college's first Black football player. Trice would die tragically days later after sustaining injuries on the field during that game. Today, Iowa State football games are played at Jack Trice Stadium.

The Idealist is a complete portrait of Trice, the son of a former Buffalo Soldier who became a high school football standout in Ohio and embarked on his college career hoping to emulate fellow Iowa State alum George Washington Carver. It is also the story of those who fought for his legacy across generations.

What defines a hero? Who has been overlooked because the color of their skin? In the 1970s, the students of Iowa State asked the same questions. The discovery of the story behind a small, dusty plaque honoring Trice spawned a decades long campus movement to honor a forgotten football hero who helped break racial boundaries and may have died because of them.

As more light is shed on racial inequality in the United States, the story of how Jack Trice's memory led to a namesake stadium—the first and only major football stadium named for an African-American individual—should serve an inspiration for all.
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Idealist: Jack Trice and the Battle for A Forgotten Football Legacy
An essential story of understated courage, the lasting power of a name, and the battle to honor a pioneering legacy.

On the eve of his second varsity football game for the Iowa State Cyclones, Jack Trice wrote in a letter, "The honor of my race, family and self are at stake. Everyone is expecting me to do big things. I will!"

The introspective 21-year-old was ever aware of his status in 1923 as the college's first Black football player. Trice would die tragically days later after sustaining injuries on the field during that game. Today, Iowa State football games are played at Jack Trice Stadium.

The Idealist is a complete portrait of Trice, the son of a former Buffalo Soldier who became a high school football standout in Ohio and embarked on his college career hoping to emulate fellow Iowa State alum George Washington Carver. It is also the story of those who fought for his legacy across generations.

What defines a hero? Who has been overlooked because the color of their skin? In the 1970s, the students of Iowa State asked the same questions. The discovery of the story behind a small, dusty plaque honoring Trice spawned a decades long campus movement to honor a forgotten football hero who helped break racial boundaries and may have died because of them.

As more light is shed on racial inequality in the United States, the story of how Jack Trice's memory led to a namesake stadium—the first and only major football stadium named for an African-American individual—should serve an inspiration for all.
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Idealist: Jack Trice and the Battle for A Forgotten Football Legacy

Idealist: Jack Trice and the Battle for A Forgotten Football Legacy

Idealist: Jack Trice and the Battle for A Forgotten Football Legacy

Idealist: Jack Trice and the Battle for A Forgotten Football Legacy

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Overview

An essential story of understated courage, the lasting power of a name, and the battle to honor a pioneering legacy.

On the eve of his second varsity football game for the Iowa State Cyclones, Jack Trice wrote in a letter, "The honor of my race, family and self are at stake. Everyone is expecting me to do big things. I will!"

The introspective 21-year-old was ever aware of his status in 1923 as the college's first Black football player. Trice would die tragically days later after sustaining injuries on the field during that game. Today, Iowa State football games are played at Jack Trice Stadium.

The Idealist is a complete portrait of Trice, the son of a former Buffalo Soldier who became a high school football standout in Ohio and embarked on his college career hoping to emulate fellow Iowa State alum George Washington Carver. It is also the story of those who fought for his legacy across generations.

What defines a hero? Who has been overlooked because the color of their skin? In the 1970s, the students of Iowa State asked the same questions. The discovery of the story behind a small, dusty plaque honoring Trice spawned a decades long campus movement to honor a forgotten football hero who helped break racial boundaries and may have died because of them.

As more light is shed on racial inequality in the United States, the story of how Jack Trice's memory led to a namesake stadium—the first and only major football stadium named for an African-American individual—should serve an inspiration for all.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781629379968
Publisher: Triumph Books
Publication date: 09/27/2022
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Dr. Jonathan Gelber is a nationally recognized orthopedic surgeon and the author of Tiger Woods's Back and Tommy Johns's Elbow: Injuries and Tragedies that Transformed Careers, Sports, and Society and The Ultimate Guide to Preventing and Treating MMA Injuries. Seneca Wallace played quarterback at Iowa State before going on to a career in the NFL.

Table of Contents

Foreword Seneca Wallace 11

Foreword Eugene Smith 13

Introduction 15

Part 1 Jack

1 A Little Boy with a Big Smile 19

2 Sad Sam and East Tech Football 33

3 Baggy's Boys of Everett, Washington 53

4 A Call to the West 65

5 Cora 79

6 No Second Chances 89

7 Freshman Year and the Peanut Man 97

8 Alpha Phi Alpha and Varsity Football 127

9 Jack's Letter 137

10 "I Go Higher" 149

Part 2 The Handoff

11 A Nutty-Violent Period 157

12 The First Regents Meeting 183

13 The Great Compromise 193

14 Fists Up! 213

Acknowledgments 253

A Note on Sources 255

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