Des Moines, Iowa — Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has ordered all flags in Iowa to be lowered to half-staff until sunset on Friday, December 20, in honor and remembrance of University of Iowa football coach Hayden Fry.
Governor Reynolds says that Hayden Fry was “an Iowa coaching legend who left it all on the field in every game, practice, and in all aspects of his life.” She says Fry was Born a Texan, but he quickly earned his place among the greatest Iowans, by carrying Hawkeye football to new heights and connecting with our state on a level only few have. During the depths of the Farm Crisis of the 1980s, Reynolds says Fry popularized the “America Needs Farmers” movement, showing farmers and rural America that he stood by them. She says, “Iowans always stood with Hayden Fry, and now they will honor his legacy and always remember him as a model for how coaches should be.”
Flags will be at half-staff on the State Capitol Building and on flag displays in the Capitol Complex. Flags will also be half-staff on all public buildings, grounds and facilities throughout the state. Individuals, businesses, schools, municipalities, counties and other government subdivisions are encouraged to fly the flags at half-staff for the same length of time.
Fry was named Iowa coach in December of 1978, inheriting a struggling program that had gone seventeen years without a winning season. In just his third year, Fry led the Hawkeyes to the Rose Bowl, ending a streak that had been alive since 1968 — when either Ohio State or Michigan was one of the teams playing in the game. It would be the first of three Big Ten titles and Rose Bowl games under Fry in his two decades as head coach. He not only produced winning teams but also a long list of head coaches who worked or played for him including Bill Snyder, Bob Stoops, Barry Alvarez, Dan McCarney, and current Hawkeye coach Kirk Ferentz.
RadioIowa assisted with this story.
