The best thing to come out of a game in Kinnick Stadium on a Saturday in the Fall is usually a Hawkeye win. That was not the case during the game against Wyoming when the fans waved to the on-looking young Hawkeye fans in the new University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
It happened after the first quarter of the game with the Wyoming Cowboys, when all the fans organically (with a suggestion from the public address announcer) turned, and waved to the on-looking fans watching the season opener. It had been something that had been talked about online by Hawkeye fans when it became apparent that this great view would be available for these kids.
The Hawkeyes already had a tradition of having a ‘Kid Captain’ from the hospital join the other captains on the current team for each game. The relationship between the football program and the UI Children’s Hospital continues to do good things. This includes the constant generosity of Kirk Ferentz and his wife to the hospital.
Amongst the traditions that have been added in recent years including rubbing Nile Kinnick’s helmet on his statue before each game, the fans turning on their phone’s flashlights for night games going into the fourth quarter and others.
Even old traditions like the ‘Burrito Lift’, The Hawkeye Marching Band and playing ‘In Heaven There Is No Beer’ after a win, aren’t as ‘cool’ of a move as this new tradition.
It even got the attention of Scott Van Pelt on ‘Sportscenter’ who took notice of it:
None is as meaningful and heartwarming as this, which surely will be a staple of Saturday’s in Kinnick for a long time.