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Ben Kueter - USA Today All-Iowa Male Athlete of the Year for 2021/2022

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HR Heisman
Mar 24, 2016
9,477
17,059
113
Per Hawk Central / Cody Goodwin (subscribers only article).

Congrats to Iowa Football and Wrestling recruit Big Ben Kueter on being selected as the All-Iowa Male Athlete of the Year. Edit: removed "duh", with respect to Aaron Graves, another Hawk.šŸ˜

Football - Led 5A in total tackles, tackles for loss and sacks. Scored 11 touchdowns on Offense to boot.

37-0 undefeated State Champ in Wrestling. 36 bonus point wins. U20 World Team Member.

Hit .333 with 26 RBI's while playing great defense for Iowa City High Baseball.

He good. Gonna be a great Hawk I believe.
 
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the only other that comes close is Graves. Incredible young men!
Very good point. That young man was outstanding as well. (better rescind my "duh" statement huh? šŸ™‚)

Graves was ONLY the National Male Athlete of the Year! Ha! Both Hawks, gotta love it.
 
Didnā€™t know Hoiberg was an all around athleteā€¦. Adam Haluska was a hell of an athlete though

editā€¦.. guess Hoiberg was the Ames starting Qb in high schoolā€¦..

He was the Gatorade player of the year in football. Florida State and Nebby wanted him to play ball there iirc
 
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Is Ben the greatest Iowa HS athlete in history?

Discussā€¦.
Ben Kueter. The greatest high school athlete in Iowa history? Certainly an applicant for that distinction. And the list of notables for this distinction may not be that long. This is pretty tall cotton.

My nomination, Kenny Ploen, graduate of Clinton, Iowa High School. Ploen was an all-state football player, all-state basketball player, all-state baseball player, and a state champion/Drake Relays hurdle champion. Then became an All-American quarterback for Iowa's National Championship football team. Later, one of the all-time Canadian Football greats. Below is some very high praise from teammates and coaches.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Kenny Ploen was one of the greatest athletes ever to come out of the state of Iowa," said Randy Duncan, who became the Hawkeyes' starting quarterback the following year. "If he'd gone to the NFL, he would have been all-pro as a defensive back."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Forrest Evashevski saw more. "As good of a football player as Kenny Ploen was, he was an even better athlete,'' Evashevski said, ā€œIt's not a stretch to suggest that he may have been the best high school athlete that the state of Iowa produced up to that time. He was truly exceptional, very gifted.''

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If youā€™re talking about all around athlete there is quite a few. Roger Craig and Tim Dwight two of them were phenomenal all-around athletes.
Did they dominate in 3 sports the way Ben has? Genuinely curiousā€¦. Heā€™s the best in my lifetime for my money easily. That only includes Dwight and Banks thoughā€¦. Does Ben, or has Ben competed in track?
 
Did they dominate in 3 sports the way Ben has? Genuinely curiousā€¦. Heā€™s the best in my lifetime for my money easily. That only includes Dwight and Banks thoughā€¦. Does Ben, or has Ben competed in track?
He has competed in Track, not sure if he still does. 400 meter guy I believe.
 
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gobblin ainā€™t budging
Iā€™m surely not going to argue the point, the kid may very well be the best athlete. I talk him up quite a bit in the lounge, the kid is a beast. Heā€™s going to be a one-man wrecking crew before itā€™s all said and done on the field. And hopefully heavyweight champion. Excited to see what this kid is going to do, absolutely love him. 6ā€™3/6ā€™4, 250 plus someday and he will be one of the Baddest football players to ever wear a Iowa uniform. Howā€™s that for showing a little love?šŸ˜‰
 
For those who like history, here is an example of college wrestler who went on to a Pro Football career:

Antonio Garay played college football and wrestled at Boston College. He was a Wrestling All American placing 4th at the NCAA Championships his sophomore year at Boston College in 2000, and that season was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the East Coast Wrestling Association Tournament (ECWA) for the second year. Boston College dropped its wrestling program in 2000.

After college Garay went on to pro football playing two seasons with the Chicago Bears and was a member of the 2006 NFC Championship team. His career as a pro went to 2013.

Garay was from Rahway NJ and handed fellow NJ native Steve Mocco his final loss of his HS prep career. Not sure if Mocco was at St. Benedict's or Blair Academy at the time.
 
He could really sew up that title this year I think.
 
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Drew Kelly out of Charles City could make a claim on it. 3x state champ wrestling, all state football a few times, heck of a track athlete as well too iirc. Went on to wrestle at UNI.

But Kueter is an all round athlete that also has the best wrestling career in Iowa's history. And it makes it really hard to watch his wrestling career take a back seat to football. If you do both, the money has to come from football (Bear Bryant rule), so football will have to be his priority.
 
Drew Kelly out of Charles City could make a claim on it. 3x state champ wrestling, all state football a few times, heck of a track athlete as well too iirc. Went on to wrestle at UNI.

But Kueter is an all round athlete that also has the best wrestling career in Iowa's history. And it makes it really hard to watch his wrestling career take a back seat to football. If you do both, the money has to come from football (Bear Bryant rule), so football will have to be his priority.

Tough to mention Kelly without mentioning his baseball career. Arguably a better baseball player than wrestler. Was first team all state. When an injury cut short his college wrestling career, he switched to baseball at UNI.

Really nice athlete but not sure he registers on this list.
 
In the last 25 years watching a lot of Eastern Iowa high school sports, don't discount Marcus Morgan. Still believe he could have been D1 in 3 sports and was a strong track athlete as well.
 
Ben is phenomenal. But. He may not be the best inn Iowa this year or last. Graves and cooper are equals
 
Graves is an obvious horse on the football field and a fine overall athlete but put his achievements side by side with Ben and Iā€™m not sure itā€™s real close.
I donā€™t know, one of them has a college degree before graduating high schoolā€¦ā€¦ šŸ˜œ
 
Graves is an obvious horse on the football field and a fine overall athlete but put his achievements side by side with Ben and Iā€™m not sure itā€™s real close.
Graves should get some credit for doing both wrestling and playing basketball - have to imagine he could have been even better had he picked one. Might need to see Graves play baseball and compare it to Keuter playing basketball for a final verdict :)
 
If we're talking about all-around athletics I don't know how we could exclude Shawn Johnson.
IMO - there's nothing more purely athletic than gymnastics.
She's an Olympic gold medalist in an individual event with three more silvers to boot.

No offense to Ben, but he has a looooong way to go before I will even consider placing him anywhere near her or anyone else on this list.

Other honorable mentions of insane athleticism include
Timmy Dwight
Lolo Jones
Ricky Davis
Tavian Banks

Now if we're basing this off included accolades then I'd go with, in no order:
Nile Kinnick
Bob Feller
Cap Anson
Zach Johnson
Kurt Warner
Dan Gable
Don Perkins
Tom and Terry Brands
Kyle Krover
Marshal Yanda
Dallas Clark
Lisa Uhl

I'm sure I'm missing several more candidates.
 
Is Ben the greatest Iowa HS athlete in history?

Discussā€¦.
No, but that isnā€™t a knock. Heck Vince Jackson in 91 from Davenport Central was an All-Stater in baseball, football, and basketball being drafted by the Dodgers in the 8th round out of HS, I believe. Matt Woodley was a first team all-stater in 3 sports in HS, also, competing at Assumption and DM Valley in football, basketball, and baseball. That is just two off the top of my head.
 
Did they dominate in 3 sports the way Ben has? Genuinely curiousā€¦. Heā€™s the best in my lifetime for my money easily. That only includes Dwight and Banks thoughā€¦. Does Ben, or has Ben competed in track?

Casey Blake was Mr Baseball, Runner up Mr Basketball led team to state finals, 1st team All state QB, placed top 5 in 400 hurdles and was on a winning Drake relay team. Hayden wanted him to play football but obviously wasn't his future sport. Also was All American in college baseball, played on Team USA. Wichita States all time leader in HR & RBI.

That's 3 first team All state. Also only one of 22 Iowa high school kids inducted into the National HS hall of fame. Which also includes Dan Gable & Hoiberg

I also remember that Darrin Naatjes from up by Okoboji. All state in 3 sports, was drafted for MLB but ended up at Stanford playing TE.

Id also mention Ed Podalak & Nate Kaeding were good at everything they touched. Kaeding won like 3 state title in Soccer, Football & Basketball. As mentioned above I wouldn't overlook how good Sash and Brandon Myers where on the court. Ive seen both just throw down silly dunks in games

Chris Street also was a USA today/parade AA at QB. Hayden also wanted him to play football. And threw 90 when he was a sophomore on the baseball team but quit to focus on Basketball camps in the summer.

Now I will say I am a huge Kueter fan. Kid could be pretty good at basketball if he had time for it. His Uncle was 1st team all state and dad was like 2nd or 3rd.
 
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If we're talking about all-around athletics I don't know how we could exclude Shawn Johnson.
IMO - there's nothing more purely athletic than gymnastics.
She's an Olympic gold medalist in an individual event with three more silvers to boot.

No offense to Ben, but he has a looooong way to go before I will even consider placing him anywhere near her or anyone else on this list.

Other honorable mentions of insane athleticism include
Timmy Dwight
Lolo Jones
Ricky Davis
Tavian Banks

Now if we're basing this off included accolades then I'd go with, in no order:
Nile Kinnick
Bob Feller
Cap Anson
Zach Johnson
Kurt Warner
Dan Gable
Don Perkins
Tom and Terry Brands
Kyle Krover
Marshal Yanda
Dallas Clark
Lisa Uhl

I'm sure I'm missing several more candidates.

Fisty

My best pal is the best men's gym coach in the country, and I think he'd agree that all gymnastic moves are pre-programmed. Yes, you have to be athletic to achieve them, but nothing is ad libbed, like the deeking a running back has to do to avoid a tackle or the many subtle movements on a BB or Hockey court. The other piece is there is no ball to gymnastics which introduces a whole different element.

I've been to alot of gym meets and practices, and while I have great respect for gymnastics, they to me, are robotic in their athleticism. This is not a knock, but I just don't see them on the same level.

And too, next time I see TD, I'll ask him who he thinks was best. I'll bet he doesn't include himself
 
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