Welcome to Tradition Tuesday, a weekly look at the iconic rituals, traditions and moments that make college football game days so special.
Today, we’re heading to Iowa City for one of the sport’s most recognizable traditions: Iowa’s Hawkeye Wave, a special moment shared with pediatric patients watching from Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
If you love college football, you know few traditions are as simple — or as powerful — as the University of Iowa’s Hawkeye Wave.
At the end of the first quarter of every game at Kinnick Stadium, more than 70,000 fans, along with the players and coaches from both teams, turn toward the Stead Family Children’s Hospital and wave to the pediatric patients and families watching from the hospital’s upper floors.
What makes the Hawkeye Wave so special? For a few moments, the outcome of the game and everything happening on the field take a back seat.
Everyone inside the stadium comes together for something bigger: reminding children and their families that an entire community is thinking about them.
It’s a small gesture that carries enormous meaning.
For the patients looking down at the stadium, that sea of waving fans can provide a moment of joy, connection and hope.
And for everyone inside Kinnick Stadium, and those who have witnessed the Hawkeye Wave’s magic from afar, it’s a powerful reminder of college football at its best.
The tradition
- Iowa fan Krista Young suggested the idea on Facebook in May 2017, and it debuted a few months later during the season opener against Wyoming.
- The tradition was inspired by a photo of a patient watching a game from the hospital, which prompted Young to suggest that the stadium should wave to the children.
- The top floors of the Stead Family Children’s Hospital overlook the stadium, creating a perfect window into the game.
- The wave provides patients fighting critical illnesses with what is intended to be a sense of community support and a distraction from the challenges they face.
- The gesture earned a Disney Sports Spirit Award during its inaugural year and is widely recognized as the most heartwarming tradition in college sports.
Quote of note
“It puts things into perspective, even though it’s during the game. That’s an awesome thing to take a break for not only the kids, but those parents who are going through a lot, too. Knowing what’s going on in there, what’s being done by the doctors and the staff and the nurses, it shows appreciation to all those people.” — former Iowa linebacker Jaden Harrell
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Mike Garbett is a content specialist working with McClatchy’s Content Innovation Lab.