Once – 1970s
By the 1971 football season, it had become clear that the stadium at Clyde Williams Field needed replacing. There were structural problems, facilities such as restrooms needed to be improved, seating was limited to 35,000 (with a third of that being in the endzone), and gameday parking was scarce with no room for expansion. In September 1973, a design by Finch-Heery and Durrant, Deininger, Dommer, Kramer, Gordon was selected. On October 26, 1973, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new stadium.
In 1973, Alan Beals, an Athletic Department tutor, happened upon the same overlooked and dilapidated plaque discovered by Tom Emmerson in 1957. Trice’s story was again forgotten in the 16 years between their independent discoveries of this memorial. On October 5, 1973, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Trice’s death, Beals and Daily sports editor Jim Smith wrote the article, “Trice: A Forgotten Story Remembered,” in the Iowa State Daily.
Dr. Charles Sohn, a childhood friend of Beals and an English professor at Iowa State, was roused by Trice’s story and introduced it as a research opportunity for his freshman English students. During a class discussion, following research and work on projects, a student proposed the idea of Jack Trice Stadium. The students formed the Jack Trice Memorial Stadium Committee to further this proposal and garner support. Support for their cause came from many different audiences, including Trice’s former football coach, William H. Thompson, who appreciated their efforts and agreed to allow the committee to use his letter and support to bolster their efforts.
As the Jack Trice Memorial Stadium Committee looked to promote the story of Jack Trice, his legacy, and their push to get the stadium named after him, they held contests to design various memorabilia, including t-shirts, stationery, and buttons. The two button designs displayed here were distributed to the public.
Soon after the formation of the Jack Trice Memorial Stadium Committee, the Government of the Student Body unanimously passed the first resolution of many in support of naming the stadium Jack Trice Stadium. At this time, the stadium was owned by the ISU Foundation as the University worked to raise funds to cover construction costs. Much of the talk surrounding the naming of the stadium during this time concerned fundraising and the possibility of a substantial donation from a single donor for naming rights. The students, however, noted that “this stadium can be more than cold cash and concrete.”
At a Faculty Council meeting in November 1975, a resolution was passed to recommend to the University Administration that a committee be appointed to consider the naming of the new stadium. As a result of this resolution, President Parks formed an ad hoc committee to work with the Committee on the Naming of Buildings and Streets to come up with a recommendation to name the new stadium.
The Government of the Student Body was a leader in the push for naming the stadium in honor of Jack Trice. Student support did not stop with GSB, however. Other student organizations passed their own resolutions in support of naming the stadium in Trice’s honor. In addition, thousands from the general student body signed and submitted petitions to the Jack Trice Memorial Stadium Committee to show their support.
The committee and ad hoc representatives held a final vote on May 7, 1976, and with an 11-3 margin, it was recommended that the new football stadium be named Cyclone Stadium and a separate area be set aside to honor former athletes. Students Jill Wagner, Donald Morris, and Michael Golob made the three dissenting votes. President Parks endorsed these recommendations and passed them along to the Board of Regents. At the Board’s May 13, 1976, meeting, they decided to table a decision on the naming of the stadium until all debt had been paid off and the University had taken ownership of the stadium from the ISU Foundation.
