With seventh grade winding down and hints of summer teasing, my mother did something that would forever change the course of my basketball career. She challenged me to a free throw contest.
Read MoreMy first journaling experience came on advice from the Des Moines Register. After mustering the courage to propose writing an article about playing on the University of Iowa basketball team in 1981, the Register suggested – with no guarantee they’d publish it – that I keep a diary over the final month of the season detailing our pursuit of a Big Ten championship.
Read MoreI was fortunate to have walked on to the Iowa basketball team in 1979-80, the same season it would reach the Final Four.
Read MoreI was just a teenager in 1974 when the defunct Parsons College in Fairfield became Maharishi International University. I remember feeling a tinge of sadness that Parsons' century of tradition had died, and yet also a peculiar sense of pride —Transcendental Meditation (or TM) was hip after all, made famous by celebrities like the Beach Boys and the Beatles.
Read MoreGrant Wood’s painting "American Gothic" has filled me with both pride and unease since I was a kid. I want to be a fan of Wood because he is Iowa’s most famous painter, because his family and mine share a Jones County heritage, and because Wood holds the distinction of creating arguably the most recognizable painting in the world besides Leonardo da Vinci’s "Mona Lisa."
Read MoreBasketball laureate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar visited Iowa City on March 25 to talk about activism in America. He spoke of the need to teach critical thinking skills in order to separate facts from opinions and encouraged all of us to grow by making friends with people different from us.
Read MoreOn the evening of March 17, 1980, we returned to Iowa City victorious after defeating Georgetown in the NCAA East Region Final, advancing Iowa basketball to its first Final Four in 24 years.
Read MoreWhen a business trip took me to Australia recently, I jumped at the chance to see my former Iowa basketball teammate and good friend Steve Carfino.
Read More“Don’t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes” is a memorable line from Harper Lee’s racially charged classic "To Kill a Mockingbird" when Atticus Fitch speaks to his daughter Scout about the importance of empathy. It is an appropriate reference in this Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa season when the spirit of giving is at the forefront of our minds. I’m reminded how exposure to race shaped my ability to show empathy to those whose color and culture differ from my own.
Read MoreWhen I told my friends in Austin, Texas, that we were moving to Iowa, I received looks of shock and dismay — even pity. It was amusing had it not felt sad that people can so easily write off an entire state.
Read MoreKenny Arnold will attend this year’s Fry Fest honoring Iowa’s only Final Four basketball team from the past 60 years. “It will be very good for him to get out of the nursing home and see Hawkeye fans,” says Mike “Tree” Henry, Kenny’s best friend since they becoming teammates at Iowa in 1978.
Read MoreThe University of Iowa men’s basketball trip to Europe has me thinking back to 1981, when coach Lute Olson took his Hawks to play in South America. There were many differences traveling and playing back then, but one thing is constant: a rich opportunity to broaden young men’s horizons. I asked Olson and some of my teammates for their reflections and, interestingly, very few of the cherished memories had to do with basketball.
Read MoreStudies have demonstrated that visiting museums reduce stress and improves one’s mood. MRI studies of people’s brains while looking at paintings also show stimulation in areas of creativity and empathy.
Read MoreWhen former Iowa basketball coach Lute Olson returns to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for Thursday's game against Iowa State, the press will gather around him.
Read More“Hello again, Sister,” I shouted over the static, “I arrive in Calcutta (Kolkata) the day after tomorrow, and I wanted to check in with you to make sure you have received the monitoring equipment.”
Read More“Do you want to do something extraordinary while you’re in India?” the monk asked. “Go see Mother Teresa. You will feel the fundaments of humankind in her presence ...”
Read MoreEverywhere you turn, criticism of Brazil’s preparations for the Olympic Games abounds. From the handling of the Zika virus to faulty infrastructure, crime rates or political instability, these themes dominate the news.
Read MoreThe first thing I do when I come home to Des Moines is drive downtown and circle the Pappajohn Sculpture Park. It has become my ritual.
Read MoreThirty-five years ago, the Iowa Hawkeyes limped into the NCAA men's basketball tournament on the back and one good leg of our all-America point guard, Ronnie Lester. Before ESPN, or even the term "March Madness," became mainstream, we were a Cinderella in a season that played out like a Greek tragedy. If you asked any one of my teammates today, they would remember three things that set us apart in 1980: adversity, adoration and miracles.
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