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Many of the black players told me that Fry had convinced their parents he would be like a father figure to their sons, and would always protect and care for them, and they believed him because, well, he was Hayden Fry. I covered the Iowa football beat for seven seasons from 1992-98 with Fry as head coach, and countless black players told me that Fry’s support of civil rights and his willingness to confront racism helped convince them to sign with Iowa. It was a decision that took a tremendous amount of courage from both Fry and LeVias, and their resolve made a lasting impression. I remember asking Odems why he picked Iowa, and he mentioned how much his family respected and admired Hayden Fry, and everything he stood for as a head coach, and as a person.įry, as the head coach for Southern Methodist University, had broken the color barrier in the Southwest Conference in the mid-1960s by recruiting Jerry LeVias. Shaw would go on to become Iowa’s all-time leading rusher with 4,156 yards, while Odems was a four-year letter-winner who finished with over 900 receiving yards and five touchdowns as a Hawkeye One of the first recruiting stories I remember writing was about two high school teammates from Austin, Texas named Sedrick Shaw and Demo Odems.ĭemo was short for Demosesneeds, and needless to say, I was fascinated by his name. It was old-style recruiting coverage where a landline, word of mouth and knowing the right people were the best ways to communicate. This was before the Internet and cell phones and recruiting websites and crystal balls and 7-on-7 skill camps.

It became my beat, and I enjoyed it, the chase and getting to know the recruits and their families, and the coaches who played a role.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – College football recruiting has changed in so many ways since I started covering it on a pretty regular basis for the Iowa City Press-Citizen in 1991.