A look into Iowa football's most heartwarming gameday tradition

Traditions are a big part of college football, but each tradition brings its own unique qualities to each team. Some fans follow tradition by rallying behind the team, some fans like to heckle the opposing team, while some gameday traditions are simply just different than all the others.

Iowa's gameday tradition falls into the simply different category, but it is different in the most heartwarming way possible. Even though this Hawkeyes tradition is one of the the younger ones in college football, it has quickly found its way into the hearts of not just Iowa fans, but college football fans all around the country.

Starting back in September 2017, the Hawkeyes Wave, otherwise known as the Iowa Wave, became a home game tradition that not just Hawkeye fans partake in, but opposing fans, players, and coaches love to take part in as well.

No matter how the game is going, whether Iowa is down big or demolishing their opponents, at the end of the first quarter during a home game at Kinnick Stadium, every fan in the stadium, whether you are wearing yellow and black, or the opposing team's colors, they turn around and face the University of Iowa's Stead Family Children's Hospital and wave.

The people that thousands and thousands of fans, players, and coaches are waving at the children who are patients at that hospital with their families sitting at the window. Patients are able to watch the entirety of the game from those windows and in order to show them that they are a part of the game too, those thousands of people wave to tell them hello and that everyone is hoping for a recovery from whatever they are battling.

Whenever the heartwarming tradition is caught on camera, if the cameramen are able to zoom in enough, the children can be seen waving back with joy and excitement on their faces.

Every home game since 2017 has included this heartwarming, excluding the 2020 season when no fans were allowed in the stadium, but a group on facebook came together and made a virtual wave for the children.

The tradition began in 2017 when the hospital opened its new $300 million facility that was directly behind the stadium. The 12-story design meant that children would have a great view of each Iowa home game.

Before the season started, Krista Young posted on an Iowa fan Facebook group page called Hawkeye Heaven suggesting that after seeing a photo of a kid looking out the window of the new facility, and felt that a connection between the fans and the children could be made showing supports of their hard-fought battle.

University of Iowa officials were already discussing some sort of gesture, but their plans were accelerated by Young's wonderful idea. Young's post about the idea of sending inspiration to the young patients went viral and her vision grew more than she ever could have imagined.

The wave went viral and after the completion of the 2017 season, it got the recognition it deserved by winning the Disney Spirit Award. It has also brought players together as back in 2019, Minnesota placeholder Casey O'Brien, a four-time cancer survivor, got to partake in the heartwarming tradition.

It doesn't matter what team you cheer for, whether it is Iowa or their biggest rival, there is no way you can't partake in this heartwarming and truly inspirational tradition.