Football in the City of Iowa started out as a club sport in 1872. It eventually developed into an intercollegiate game in 1882. After six years, the first officially recognized football team of the University of Iowa was born. The original team was invited to play in the Western Football Conference on account of the prowess of its team members. This is also called the Big Ten Conference. After one year the performance of the team was outstanding and they were made to share in the Western Conference title.

The team’s reputation achieved national importance in the 1920′s. Under the guidance of coach Howard Jones, the team scored consecutive victories. In 1939, the team’s reputation became even more impressive when they scored upset wins during that season. They missed the Big Ten title by one point but Nile Kinnick, their MVP (Most Valuable Player) was awarded many distinctions, one of which was the coveted Heisman Trophy for the year.

Coach Forest Evashevski joined their ranks in 1952. Under his tutelage, from 1955 to 1960, the team managed getting to top five of national football rating four times. Their other achievements include winning the Rose Bowl two times. They also won the 1958 FWAA national games. After that season came nineteen years of losses. The trend was only reversed by the hiring of coach Hayden Fry. This was in 1979. Ever since then, the Hawkeyes have had their share of the winnings.

They began by garnering three Big Ten titles plus the exact same number of Rose bowl appearances. They were included in the top 25 teams three times. In 2002 they were in 8th place, in 2008 they were number 20 and then again in 2009 they rose to 7th place.

Since the team was organized, they have participated in a thousand games. 24 of these games were bowl games.

Many of its team members have shown exceptional skill and have been given distinctions. A number of players have been inducted into different Halls of Fame. Among these are included the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Canadian football Hall of Fame and the College football Hall of Fame among others. In their individual capacity, some of their members have been given awards like the Outland Trophy, the Davy O’brien Award, the Heisman Trophy and the Doak Walker Award. 92 of them have been nominated first team or second team All-Americans.

The Big Ten Most Valuable Player Award has been granted to 10 Hawkeyes. Most members who stay for a long time in the team become important coaches in the NFL or for individual schools.

Nile Kinnick and Kile Jones deserve special mention. Nile has the honor of winning the only Heisman trophy ever won by the team. Kile, on the other hand, was awarded the Outland Trophy in 1955, the first African-American to do so.

The team’s name is from their mascot Hierky the Hawk whose plumes are black and gold. Hierky was created in 1948 but was not publicly depicted until 1959.

The home stadium of the team is found on campus. It was formerly the Iowa stadium but in 1972 was renamed the Kinnick stadium honoring Nile Kinnick.

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