Iowa football: 30 greatest players in Hawkeyes history

Lester Belding was another key member of the 1921 Iowa football team that went undefeated and basically annihilated all opponents en route to winning the Big Ten Championship. The 1921 squad outscored opponents 185 to 36, which includes a 10-7 win over the legendary Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the second game of the season.

Although not official, some say the 1921 Iowa football team should have been that year’s national champions.

The Mason City, Iowa native is one of the best wide receivers to ever play for the Hawks (although stats are obviously not comparable given the era of football he played in). As a wide receiver, he was honored three times as First-Team All-Big Ten, and he was a Consensus All-American in 1919, which was a first for an Iowa Hawkeye player.

Belding also competed on the University of Iowa track team while in his time with the Hawks. After finishing his collegiate career, he went on to coach football and basketball at the collegiate level before moving over into an athletic director role.

Belding was elected into the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991.