Jack Trice

Jack Trice was a football player for Iowa State University. He was the first black athlete in the school's history. He was also the first to die from injuries received while playing in a game.


I got an e-mail from Brother John Joiner, a member of Arcadia, telling me about this

"There were only about 20 black students on the ISU campus when they arrived. Unable to secure any housing, they turned to the local Masonic group, which arranged for them to board in a room at their local temple."


Trice died from his injuries on October 8, 1923. Just before his death he wrote a letter to himself and was found in his Jacket pocket. It said:

"My thoughts just before the first real college game of my life: The honor of my race, family and self are at stake," Trice wrote. "Everyone is expecting me to do big things. I will!

"My whole body and soul are to be thrown recklessly about on the field tomorrow. Every time the ball is snapped, I will be trying to do more than my part. … Be on your toes every minute if you expect to make good. Jack."

In 1974, ISU's student body government voted unanimously to recommend that the school name the new football stadium after Trice. Several years later, students raised money to erect the statue of him outside the stadium.

School officials originally named the facility "Cyclone Stadium." But due to the persistence of ISU students, staff and other supporters, the facility was named Jack Trice Stadium in 1997. It is the only Division I-A football stadium named for an African-American. Jack Trice Stadium.

You can read more about Jack Trice, here, here and here.