An Iowa State football player will wear a different number on his jersey this season in a show of support for a former player who’s undergoing treatment for a brain tumor.
State Senator Jack Whitver, a former starting wide receiver for the Cyclones, announced his diagnosis this spring. ISU football coach Matt Campbell invited Whitver and his family to join the team on the field this weekend.
“He’s going through a really hard battle right now,” Campbell said. “…It’s going to take all of us to rally around him.”
Campbell said the player who’ll wear number 26 this season had the same journey Whitver did at ISU. “Started off as a walk-on, now one of the great leaders in our football program and that’s Caleb Bacon,” Campbell said and the team cheered.
Bacon, who’s from Lake Mills, is a linebacker who played in all 13 ISU games last season and made 60 tackles, the second most on the team. Whitver was on the Cyclone football team from 1999 to 2003 and finished his college career with five touchdowns and 96 career receptions. Whitver is currently the Republican leader in the Iowa Senate.