Hayden Fry, Texan who turned around Iowa, dies at 90

By RALPH D. RUSSO

Hayden Fry, the Texan who revived Iowa football and became a Hawkeye State institution over two decades as a Big Ten coach, has died. He was 90.

Fry’s family announced through the University of Iowa that the former coach died Tuesday with his family at his side after a long battle with cancer. He had been living in the Dallas area with his wife, Shirley.

“We are proud to know that our father’s life had a positive influence on so many people, the players, the coaches, and the fans who played for, worked with, and supported his long and successful coaching career,” the family said in a statement. “His legend will live forever with the people he touched and inspired, and the programs he led to greater heights.”

Fry, a native of Eastland, Texas, had never been to Iowa before taking over the Hawkeyes in 1979, hired by then-athletic director Bump Elliott, the former Michigan star who died earlier this month.

The Hawkeyes had slogged through 17 consecutive years without a winning season when Fry arrived. He changed everything. He had the uniforms redesigned to make them look more like the black-and-gold ones worn by the Pittsburgh Steelers, the NFL’s dominant team at the time. The familiar Tigerhawk logo was unveiled during Fry’s tenure. He had the visitors’ locker room painted pink, a tradition that still stands. Roaming the sidelines in his familiar dark sunglasses, Fry coached the Hawkeyes for 20 seasons, winning 238 games and three Big Ten championships.

“Though Hayden was born in Texas and moved there more recently to be closer to our family, his love for the University of Iowa, his players and coaches, the people of Iowa, and the state of Iowa, is well known,” the family said. “Hayden often shared, ‘I’ll Always Be a Hawkeye.’”

Fry’s greatest season at Iowa was 1985, when the Hawkeyes were No. 1 in the AP rankings for five weeks and had Heisman Trophy runner-up Chuck Long at quarterback. Iowa finished 10-2 as Big Ten champions and ranked 10th in the country. He coached three Rose Bowls with Iowa, though he never won one.

“Iowa football reached new heights under Hayden Fry, and has continued that success under Kirk Ferentz, one of the many outstanding coaches who served as a member of his staff,” Iowa athletic director Gary Barta said in a statement. “Hayden’s legacy not only lives on through Iowa football, but also through the coaches and players who had the privilege to be associated with his teams.

Fry started his coaching career at Odessa (Texas) High School in the 1950s, not long after playing quarterback at Baylor. His first college head coaching job was at SMU in 1962, and he was instrumental and desegregating the team and the Southwest Conference as both coach and athletic director. In 1965, Jerry LeVias became the first black football player to sign a scholarship with a team in the Southwest Conference.

Fry went 49-66-1 in 11 seasons with the Mustangs and then did a six-year stint at North Texas, where he went 40-23-3.

At Iowa, Fry not only produced winning teams, but also a long line of successful head coaches who worked and played for him.

“Hayden Fry is a college football icon and an Iowa legend,” Ferentz said. “His Hall of Fame career is well known, but personally, he will always be the man who took a chance on me at the start of my coaching career. I was proud to coach with him and honored to succeed him when he retired. He’s been a great mentor and a true friend. I am forever grateful to him.”

Stoops on Twitter called Fry: “A man that we all loved and revered.”

Fry retired as Iowa’s winningest coach in 1998, a mark since surpassed by Ferentz. He was first diagnosed with prostate cancer before his final season at Iowa and he did his best to keep the news from his players and coaches while he received treatment.

“My doctor at the hospital said, ‘Coach, you may be the luckiest guy in the world. You’re almost 70 years old and you’re in real good physical condition other than the cancer.’ He said I could live another five years. That was 16 years ago, and I’m still here,” Fry told the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette in 2015, when he was living in Nevada.

Fry is survived by his wife, four sons, a daughter, a stepson and a stepdaughter. Plans for a memorial service are pending, the family said.

___

Follow Ralph D. Russo at and listen

___

More AP college football: and and