Don Lund

I’ve already talked about Game Time shutting down this summer after 16 years of playing in North Liberty.
It’s kind of sad for me because I was there at the beginning helping Randy Larson, who also runs the Prime Time League, get Game Time going.
Prime Time moved to North Liberty in 2001 because it was air-conditioned, but there was only one basketball court at the time and there would be three games a night for Game Time, four for Prime Time.
I kept the stats and sometimes did play by play for North Liberty Television.

This is the third part of a look back to 1983.

In 1983, the price of a one story, two-bedroom house was $36,000.
A new Ford Escort cost $6,900, gas was $1.29 per gallon and you could buy a stamp for 20¢.

The Hawkeye basketball team had a new coach in George Raveling, who coached at Washington State from 1972-83.
The Hawks finished 13-15, 6-12 in the Big Ten that year.
The starting lineup included the twin towers Michael Payne (9.3 points per game) and Greg Stokes (14.9). Both were juniors.

It’s the time of year where I flashback, this time it’s 1983. The Iowa Hawkeye football team went 9-3, 7-2 in the Big Ten.
Some of the special events happening in 1983 included the last episode of M*A*S*H*. I saw the original movie, watched the series on TV, including the final, and I still watch the reruns. The final was viewed by over 125 million viewers, a record at the time.

The Iowa women’s basketball team finished the season with a 20-14 record, 8-8 in the Big Ten.
That’s the eighth time the Hawkeyes have won 20 games in the last 10 years.
I sat down with Iowa Assistant Coach Jenni Fitzgerald, who has been on Lisa Bluder’s staff at Iowa for all 17 seasons.
Before that, Jenni coached eight years at Drake with Lisa.
She also was the starting point guard for the Drake Bulldogs from 1986-91, where she was a captain her senior year and first team all-conference.

This is the second part of a series previewing the Iowa Hawkeye spring football practice. Last week I looked at the offensive line, which returns six players with starting experience. This week I’ll talk about the tight ends, wide receivers and fullbacks.

Tight ends

Kirk Ferentz likes to use his tight ends, who not only need to be able to catch the ball but be able to block on running plays.
It really hurt the offense when tight end George Kittle went out with an injury after the Purdue game.