Peterson: Iowa State football players, coaches are emotional about Jack Trice's legacy

AMES – I thought long and hard, brainstormed ideas with friends and colleagues. What’s left to write, about a man whose legacy will be honored during Iowa State’s Saturday 7 p.m., Big 12 Conference football game against TCU – and contested inside a stadium named for the player who sacrificed his life for a race, when Black players weren’t always welcomed in college stadiums?

The year-long celebration honoring Jack Trice, the only Black man whose name is attached to a major college football stadium, will culminate with the team wearing throwback uniforms, the introduction of Trice’s family, the band honoring Trice’s legacy in their own special way, and with a video board tribute during what’s being called “The Jack Trice Legacy Game.”

Given Saturday’s theme, I take this pause in dissecting the team’s current state of affairs, to examine the letter Trice wrote on the eve of Iowa State’s 1923 game at Minnesota – a game in which some Minnesota players did everything they could to intentionally knock the Cyclones’ first Black football player out of the game. The resulting injuries were so severe, that they later would contribute to Trice’s death.

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“I didn’t know much about the story before I got to school, but I do now,” Cyclones’ star cornerback T.J. Tampa said at Big 12 Media Days. “That story means a lot to me.”

Hostility on that October day in Minnesota not only included racial name-calling but also stomping on Trice, while he was already on the ground. Doctors allowed him to return to Ames on the team train. Surgery was performed in an effort to repair massive abdominal and intestinal injuries caused by the Minnesota players’ malicious tactics.

He died two days after the racially-motivated assault – an assault against a man who was representing not only his race, but his family and the school he dearly loved.

“What you’re honoring is this man having the act of courage to come and break the color barrier here at Iowa State in athletics,” coach Matt Campbell said Tuesday. “It’s powerful. It’s not a gimmick. It’s not a T-shirt. It’s not a uniform.

“It’s trailblazing. It’s courage (that) probably, in a lot of ways, what we’re missing today in our society – being willing to stand for something and being about something.”

Each Tuesday during the football season, the media meets with coaches and players. On this Tuesday, I asked Cyclones players, and an assistant coach, to put their words to a few of the passages in Jack Trice’s still-famous letter meant to them.

“The honor of my race, family, and self are at stake.”

“In that moment right there, he’s telling you what he’s playing for. I feel like a lot of guys on this team − their why − is their family and where they come from. Hearing him saying that, and for guys to relate to that, means a lot.” – receiver Jaylin Noel.

“Everyone is expecting me to do big things. I will!”

“That’s another line in that letter that we went over. His determination and the expectations put on him going out there − and then to go out there and do what he said he was going to do is a big thing.”— Noel.

“My whole body and soul are to be thrown recklessly about on the field tomorrow."

“That means playing hard every single snap, and playing for the one next to you on every single snap.” – linebacker Gerry Vaughn.

"Every time the ball is snapped (I) will be trying to do more than my part.”

“When the ball’s snapped, everybody’s mindset is, OK, go 200%.  You’re fighting for your brother, left and right. We’ve been working since January for these moments. When that moment comes, go out there full throttle.” – safety Jeremiah Cooper.

I also asked offensive coordinator Nate Scheelhaase a couple of Trice-related questions.

What would you tell Jack Trice if the two of you sat down together at the dinner table?

“Oh wow. There would be a whole lot of gratitude for him to have the ability to have the courage that he had − the awareness he had in the moment, the way he represented and the impact he still has on people.”

What question would like to hear Trice answer?

“My main thing is wanting to know more about the responsibility and the burden that he felt,” Scheelhaase continued. “As you can read his letter, you can tell there was clarity on the responsibility that he had, and I think there’s always discussions on how to handle that.

More: Peterson: Is Iowa State's Jack Trice story as well-known nationally as it should be?

“Any time you’re in a position to be one of the first, or one of the few or the only – you’re constantly wrestling with how to deal with that weight. To be in a position like he was – to be out ahead of so many places and people and to be representing like he was – I want to know more about that.”

That’s powerful stuff. So is this quote from former Michigan star Desmond Howard.

“If I wasn’t as closely associated with college football as I am, I don’t think I would have known about (the Trice story), which is really sad,” the 1991 Heisman Trophy winner said two days before joining ESPN's College GameDay crew in Ames in 2019. “Other college football programs should talk about that story. All football players should know about that story. It’s a significant story in college football, period, whether it’s today or tomorrow.

“It’s one of the most significant — maybe the most significant.”

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson is in his 51st year writing sports for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, on X @RandyPete, and at DesMoinesRegister.com/CyclonesTexts

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Peterson: A century later, Jack Trice's story still resonates with ISU