OT- 27 Year Anniversary that led to the all Black Helmets

[iahawkeyes17]

Hard to believe was 27 years ago today since the tragic incident at Iowa when Chinese grad student Gang Lu shot and killed several people at the U because he didn't get an award. A day later we had the infamous game at the Horseshoe when Hayden pulling off the tiger hawks and had the all black helmets with Iowa pulling off the upset with 2 top 15 teams squaring off.

Thing that amazes me today is you bring up this event and a lot of younger people had no clue something like this happened at Iowa.

 

[wedomn8]

I remember it well. I had friends that were at the U of I that year. This was prior to the age of the cell phone, so you just had to wait and hope that they would call and tell you they were OK.

 

[rchawk]

I remember it well. I had friends that were at the U of I that year. This was prior to the age of the cell phone, so you just had to wait and hope that they would call and tell you they were OK.

Several years after the shootings I worked with an Iowa grad at the Merc in Chicago. When I brought it up one day he looked uncomfortable and said he was in class when the shootings occurred in the building. The instructor closed the door and told everybody to get under their desks.

IIRC he said he was in Jessup Hall, I didn't know there were classes there. He was distressed talking about it so I let it go and didn't bring it up again.

 

[jamesvanderwulf]

I was at Columbus that day. We had driven all day Friday in a light snow and were boozing it up at " The Varsity Club " when the word came down. ( no cell phones of course )Question was whether or not we were going to turn back around and drive home again. Of course the decision was made to play and we kind of dominated, yet were in a position to get beat at the end and someone dropped a late pass for tO$U that might have changed the outcome. Seemed like we lost our starting QB with the lead and Hayden went conservative trying to let the D win the game. When we got back we found out one of the victims was from our church.

 

[Hawk_4shur]

Thanks OP. I couldn't remember anything about that W, except for the black helmets in honor of the students killed.

 

[HawkinK.C.1]

I lived on Jefferson St just a couple blocks down from his apartment. Regularly saw him sitting at his desk studying when I walked up the street toward downtown.

 

[cecilB]

Hard to believe was 27 years ago today since the tragic incident at Iowa when Chinese grad student Gang Lu shot and killed several people at the U because he didn't get an award. A day later we had the infamous game at the Horseshoe when Hayden pulling off the tiger hawks and had the all black helmets with Iowa pulling off the upset with 2 top 15 teams squaring off.

Thing that amazes me today is you bring up this event and a lot of younger people had no clue something like this happened at Iowa.

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It wasn’t an upset! We were ranked higher, we were better, and held them toabout 100 yds of offense. Great play set up led to huge td to Alan C, LeRoy went off. Happy locker room.

It was before cell phones, except for Strief’s bag phone. Raining like a mother during walk through...started getting news. Coach O’Hara had a relative in the building. Unnerving day.

 

[Herky T Hawk]

Several years after the shootings I worked with an Iowa grad at the Merc in Chicago. When I brought it up one day he looked uncomfortable and said he was in class when the shootings occurred in the building. The instructor closed the door and told everybody to get under their desks.

IIRC he said he was in Jessup Hall, I didn't know there were classes there. He was distressed talking about it so I let it go and didn't bring it up again.

Jessup had classes as recently as 2001 and likely still does today. Had a kid sitting next to me in Matrix Algebra have a siezure in one of those classrooms during a midterm, so I’ll probably always remember that classroom.

 

[hawkeyelightning]

I remember this well. Knew the killer, as I had advised him a few years prior to that, That day I was teaching in Van Allen right before he killed the professors and the student there. I decided not to go pay my U-bill that day (in Jessup) because I was pregnant and the temps were cold, so I went home right after class. I narrowly missed running into him that day. I am grateful we didn't cross paths that day as I'm not sure I'd be here. It was such a tragic thing. And the next day, our Hawkeyes won.

 

[WhoaNellieCy]

It wasn’t an upset! We were ranked higher, we were better, and held them toabout 100 yds of offense. Great play set up led to huge td to Alan C, LeRoy went off. Happy locker room.

It was before cell phones, except for Strief’s bag phone. Raining like a mother during walk through...started getting news. Coach O’Hara had a relative in the building. Unnerving day.

Ya, according to BojiHawk44, this doesn't count as beating a ranked team, because tOSU was not ranked in final AP poll, even though they were a ranked #13 when game was actually played.

On a serious note, it was a great game for U of Iowa after da tragic events that had occurred!

 

[Kinnick.At.Night]

I lived on Jefferson St just a couple blocks down from his apartment. Regularly saw him sitting at his desk studying when I walked up the street toward downtown.

That’s creepy!

 

[Kinnick.At.Night]

I remember this well. Knew the killer, as I had advised him a few years prior to that, That day I was teaching in Van Allen right before he killed the professors and the student there. I decided not to go pay my U-bill that day (in Jessup) because I was pregnant and the temps were cold, so I went home right after class. I narrowly missed running into him that day. I am grateful we didn't cross paths that day as I'm not sure I'd be here. It was such a tragic thing. And the next day, our Hawkeyes won.

Wow. Glad you’re still around. Such a senseless, selfish act by that kid.

 

[drew_hawk]

One of my earliest memories..both of my parents were working on campus that day. So surreal. For some reason, Don Henley's song End of the Innocence comes to mind..