Jack Trice awarded posthumous degree

AMES, Iowa (KCCI) - This weekend marked 100 years since the death of Jack Trice - the first black, student athlete in Iowa State history.

On Sunday, ISU celebrated Trice’s legacy and his special place in the school’s history by awarding him a posthumous degree in animal husbandry.

The ceremony included a reading of Trice’s famous “I Will” letter, which he wrote one night before he was fatally injured in a football game against Minnesota.

On hand for the ceremony were members of Trice’s family, who say Jack Trice was more than just a football player, and that a statue of him proves that point.

“There are books on a bench, he’s reading a letter that he wrote, and his football feats are behind him,” George Trice, cousin of Jack Trice, said. “They are not on him. They are not next to him. They are behind him because he is a student first - a student athlete.”

The Cyclone football team paid homage to Jack Trice on Saturday by wearing special throwback uniforms in their dominating win over TCU.

Jack Trice Stadium in Ames is the only major college football stadium to be named after an African American.

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