John (known as Jack) Trice knew the importance of being the FIRST. He had to ‘be all in,’ give it all he got and leave everything on the field. As the first black athlete to play football for Iowa State University, he put everything on the line for his race and family.
They say steel sharpens steel. Trice steeled his mind and sharpened his determination the night before the big game.
George Washington Carver, a great scientist and the first black student to attend Iowa State, must have loomed large in Trice’s mind. He strived to achieve that same element of greatness on the football field that Carver achieved in the laboratory. With great anticipation, Trice wrote down his thoughts and expectations the night before the game. He placed his written commitment and promise in his coat pocket.
He wrote, “My thoughts just before the first real college game of my life: The honor of my race, family & self is at stake.”
Everything Trice valued was at stake. All eyes, regardless of color, would be on him.
I imagine he told himself, “Listen up, big guy! Playing against Minnesota is your first real college game! This is the game of your life!
And it was.
I know the pressures attached to being the first and only black among many whites. I was the first to integrate my 6th-grade class, the first to integrate the cheerleader squad, and the first black to manage an organization.
The heat is on to prove yourself, and expectations are high!
Even if your ethnicity wasn’t a factor, remember: your first real kiss, first real job, first real competition? You remember it because your heart was in it like Trice’s heart was in the game. All the other games, kisses, and competitions don’t compare.
Trice continued, “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
Trice was a ‘John Henry’ laying tracks for others who looked like him to follow.
The day of the big game came. Trice played a steely game. After the second play of the game, he injured his shoulder, later diagnosed as a broken collarbone. But he got back in the game. In the third quarter, after an unsuccessful tackle, Trice landed on his back. And three Minnesota players trampled him. After the grueling play, he needed medical attention.
Iowa State lost the game 20-17.
The Minneapolis hospital doctors released Trice to travel home with his teammates. Two days later, on October 8, 1923, Trice died from the internal injuries he sustained during the game. Jack Trice was 21.
Whether Trice’s injuries resulted from targeting due to racial hatred or an accident is still open for debate. But Iowa would not play Minnesota again until 1989 when they renewed their contract.
After much controversy, student interventions, and public pressure, the university’s stadium was named for Jack Trice in 1997 and is called Jack Trice Stadium. Of all the major college stadiums, this is the only one named for a Black individual.
Jack Trice was a man of honor. He was born in 1902 in Hiram, Ohio. At the age of 19, Trice married Cora Mae Starland, who was 15, during at freshman year. He majored in animal husbandry at Iowa State University.
Happy Black History Month!
Stay safe.