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Decided to do a Jack Trice story for Smithsonian magazine

Kagavi

Kagavi

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Mar 4, 2013
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I decided to start doing some freelance work this year and did a piece for the Smithsonian about a portion of his life and includes a discussion of my items such as the photo and jersey, but I definitely didn't share all of my research and held back a bunch of things.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/hist...r-a-college-stadium-bears-his-name-180982989/

It wasn't meant to be a comprehensive piece with a rote recitation. Mentioned some of the exclusives on my site, such as the Klan in Ames, and corrected the record on other things.

Ex: It's always been said that Jack Trice's wife Cora Mae never returned to Ames after Jack died. That's actually incorrect. She bravely tried to resume her education at ISU the following year but didn't graduate. I think that's a far more compelling rendition of her character and spirit.

Would also love if people linked other stories and stuff from this week about Jack. The more the better!
 
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Lol…I beat you to it and posted about it this morning. Great job and so informative to those who don’t know the story. As soon as I saw the story pop up in my feed I read it and posted about it. So well done!
 
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Kagavi said:
I decided to start doing some freelance work this year and did a piece for the Smithsonian about a portion of his life and includes a discussion of my items such as the photo and jersey, but I definitely didn't share all of my research and held back a bunch of things.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/hist...r-a-college-stadium-bears-his-name-180982989/

It wasn't meant to be a comprehensive piece with a rote recitation. Mentioned some of the exclusives on my site, such as the Klan in Ames, and corrected the record on other things.

Ex: It's always been said that Jack Trice's wife Cora Mae never returned to Ames after Jack died. That's actually incorrect. She bravely tried to resume her education at ISU the following year but didn't graduate. I think that's a far more compelling rendition of her character and spirit.

Would also love if people linked other stories and stuff from this week about Jack. The more the better!
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Thanks Joshua! I always enjoy reading about Jack. "Enjoy" is not the right word though, as the hate and predudice of the time continues to alarm me and sadden me.

Proud may be a better word. Proud that he wanted to get a good education and play football too and chose Ames to do it. Proud that we can learn from his heart and character. Proud that others will continue to here about his story and what he stood for, and in some not so small way, continue the message of civil rights.
 
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Because of the Jack Trice focus this year, I hope we can go back to the Liberty Bowl so we can ask the National Civil Rights Museum to create an auxiliary exhibit about him again. Last time, I tried to get them interested in a permanent example about college sports, but settled for a table with a temporary exhibit at the entrance to their first gallery.
 
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Kagavi said:
I decided to start doing some freelance work this year and did a piece for the Smithsonian about a portion of his life and includes a discussion of my items such as the photo and jersey, but I definitely didn't share all of my research and held back a bunch of things.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/hist...r-a-college-stadium-bears-his-name-180982989/

It wasn't meant to be a comprehensive piece with a rote recitation. Mentioned some of the exclusives on my site, such as the Klan in Ames, and corrected the record on other things.

Ex: It's always been said that Jack Trice's wife Cora Mae never returned to Ames after Jack died. That's actually incorrect. She bravely tried to resume her education at ISU the following year but didn't graduate. I think that's a far more compelling rendition of her character and spirit.

Would also love if people linked other stories and stuff from this week about Jack. The more the better!
Click to expand...
I've had a subscription to Smithsonian magazine for several years, is your article going to be in the print issue?
 
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Kagavi said:
I decided to start doing some freelance work this year and did a piece for the Smithsonian about a portion of his life and includes a discussion of my items such as the photo and jersey, but I definitely didn't share all of my research and held back a bunch of things.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/hist...r-a-college-stadium-bears-his-name-180982989/

It wasn't meant to be a comprehensive piece with a rote recitation. Mentioned some of the exclusives on my site, such as the Klan in Ames, and corrected the record on other things.

Ex: It's always been said that Jack Trice's wife Cora Mae never returned to Ames after Jack died. That's actually incorrect. She bravely tried to resume her education at ISU the following year but didn't graduate. I think that's a far more compelling rendition of her character and spirit.

Would also love if people linked other stories and stuff from this week about Jack. The more the better!
Click to expand...
Great article!
 
I also just saw that Jack was given a honorary degree in Animal Husbandry. I think that's a big deal and a reminder that football was simply a tool towards how he was going to make a difference in the world. He grew up on a farm and his father was a farmer straight out of a slave plantation.

During the 1920s, poor Black farmers were spread all across the cotton belt and they were being decimated by various factors such as poor yields, oppressive racism, and a lack of generational wealth to fall back on - the effects which are CLEARLY still visible today.

It's worth considering if Jack were alive today, what would the response be to him?
 
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Kagavi said:
I also just saw that Jack was given a honorary degree in Animal Husbandry. I think that's a big deal and a reminder that football was simply a tool towards how he was going to make a difference in the world. He grew up on a farm and his father was a farmer straight out of a slave plantation.

During the 1920s, poor Black farmers were spread all across the cotton belt and they were being decimated by various factors such as poor yields, oppressive racism, and a lack of generational wealth to fall back on - the effects which are CLEARLY still visible today.

It's worth considering if Jack were alive today, what would the response be to him?
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Let's rollback a bit. Animal Husbandry isn't just a thing in Arkansas and Alabama?
 
Kagavi said:
I also just saw that Jack was given a honorary degree in Animal Husbandry. I think that's a big deal and a reminder that football was simply a tool towards how he was going to make a difference in the world. He grew up on a farm and his father was a farmer straight out of a slave plantation.

During the 1920s, poor Black farmers were spread all across the cotton belt and they were being decimated by various factors such as poor yields, oppressive racism, and a lack of generational wealth to fall back on - the effects which are CLEARLY still visible today.

It's worth considering if Jack were alive today, what would the response be to him?
Click to expand...
 
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Great article. Something else that’s fallen under the radar and I think the athletic department really needs to play up is 40 years ago, Nate Carr wrestled Kenny Monday for the national championship in Ames. I’ve done some checking, I could be wrong, but I believe that is the first time two African Americans wrestled for the national championship ranked AS no. 1 and no. 2.
 
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Cycsk said:
Because of the Jack Trice focus this year, I hope we can go back to the Liberty Bowl so we can ask the National Civil Rights Museum to create an auxiliary exhibit about him again. Last time, I tried to get them interested in a permanent example about college sports, but settled for a table with a temporary exhibit at the entrance to their first gallery.
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I think every college or university should have some type of exhibit or statue of Jack Trice.
 
Jeremy said:
I know, it just sounds like a backwoods family arrangement:)
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I get it. In the animal science department, that info was used on one of the monitors last fall (I think) during student visit times.
 
Jeremy said:
I know, it just sounds like a backwoods family arrangement:)
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Interesting things is one of the reasons why Iowa State was created in the first place was because of Animal Husbandry. Most of the textbooks in the 1860s talked about horses and our professors literally had to write the first textbooks on care of livestock. After reading the early history, I think the term husbandry was used partly to try to create a bond between farmer and farm animals.
 
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Kagavi said:
No - I wasn't even thinking about doing this until a couple of weeks ago. Articles for print issues are pitched many months in advance.
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Dang that's a bummer. We get Smithsonian and I would love a hard copy. Fantastic article. Thank you.
 
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