Iowa State University’s year-long commemoration of Jack Trice will wrap up this weekend in Ames. Toyia Younger chaired the committee that put together the celebration of the school’s first black athlete, and says they learned quickly that people didn’t really know Trice’s legacy.
“They knew that was the name of our stadium, but they didn’t know who he was. And so we’ve really used this time as an opportunity to share his story to celebrate his life and the legacy that he leaves behind,” she says. Trice died 100 years ago from injuries he got playing in a football game for the Cyclones. The events of this year have focused on his legacy of breaking barriers, including a large sculpture near the football stadium that you can walk through.
“It’s been so powerful, after we did that unveiling several days later, we had the first football game, and it was just so overwhelming to see people stop to see people walk through the sculpture, to see their amazement, to read the small signage next to it, which explained what the breaking barriers piece of art meant,” Younger says. The current day Cyclones will wear throwback jerseys for Saturday’s football game against T-C-U with five bars on them that were on the uniform that Trice wore.
“They’re excited about wearing those throwback jerseys with the five bars. The marching band will have on new hats that have the five bars, and I’m sure the majority of our 65,000 folks in attendance will have on something resembling or related to those five bars as we honor him at the big game on Saturday night,” Younger says.
Sunday is the 100th anniversary of Trice’s death, and Younger says a photo they found inspired them to include that at the closing of the commemoration. “The picture was taken the day after he died, the university hosted a funeral for him right here on central campus. And the picture is absolutely amazing,” Younger says. “They estimate that roughly three-thousand people showed up and Jack’s casket was there and several administrators were on stage. And in the backdrop, you could see the Campanile. And so when we saw that picture, we knew that we wanted to almost recreate that moment on those hallowed grounds.” The noon ceremony Sunday will be on central campus and include the awarding of a posthumous degree to Trice’s family, as he died before graduating.
Younger is a senior vice president at ISU and says they hope commemoration has educated many on Trice, who was an athlete, but also a student. “I think we have to acknowledge what Iowa State University did 100 years ago, which was open doors to a young black man, which is something that was not happening across the United States during that time. And I think it speaks to who we are as a university today, that our doors remain open to all people and all students,” she says.
She also wants Jack Trice’s legacy to continue to be movement and not just a moment in time for the commemoration. “There are so many of us who still stand on his shoulders, and that he broke barriers so that we could be here,” Younger says.
You can learn more about Trice at JackTrice100.com.