The Caitlin Clark Effect.

Over the years, the University of Iowa Athletic Department has produced a handful of coaches and players who have become well-known, nationally, for their amazing contribution to their sport. And, as you might guess, the great majority of those individuals have been men…

From top left to bottom right: **Nile Kinnick (football), Coach Forest (Evy) Evashevski (football), Coach Dr. Tom Davis (basketball), Coach Hayden Fry (football) & Coach Kirk Ferentz (football).**

Yet, if one pays attention to the rich sports heritage found here in Iowa City, you’ll know that we have our share of ‘her-stories’ as well – U of I women athletes who have greatly impacted the sports world in amazing ways.

*From left to right:* ***Dr. Christine Grant (Athletic Director), Coach C. Vivian Stringer (basketball), & Coach Lisa Bluder (basketball).***

November 12, 2019 – National Signing Day for Collegiate Women’s Basketball. Caitlin Clark from Dowling High School in West Des Moines makes her “official” commitment to Head Coach Lisa Bluder and the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Caitlin Clark-era begins!

But, without a doubt, there is one amazing individual – a young basketball player from West Des Moines – who, in 2023-2024, not only became a celebrity in Iowa City and across Iowa, but literally, Caitlin Clark – Iowa’s Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) athlete, took the nation by storm.

So much so, this national phenomenon surrounding Caitlin Clark became known as…

**Many ask: “So, what exactly is the Caitlin Clark Effect?” Let’s read how BBC writer Brandon Drenon describes it…**

Caitlin Clark is the 22-year-old headline-grabbing, trash-talking, fan-charming Iowa guard who is considered one of the greatest basketball players in college history. She wins games. Lots of games. Breaks records. Lots of records. And fills stadiums with sell-out crowds eager to see her. Many are hoping to witness her renowned long-distance three-point shots. Standing dozens of feet from the basket, sometimes in the middle of the court, she shoots the ball over the heads of her opponents with ease. The distance often defies the average range of a collegiate female player. Clark recently broke the record for the most three-point shots made in a single season, a record previously held by professional player Steph Curry. Her star power – punctuated by more than one million followers on Instagram – has drawn a multitude of new fans to the sport. People travel thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars just to see her. The phenomenon of her influence has been dubbed the Caitlin Clark Effect. As with Taylor Swift, her appearances not only drive ticket prices up, but also balloon hotel rates and strain restaurant reservation lists nearby. “She’s  a once in a generation player. She’s incredible. She’s viral,” Amanda Christovich, a reporter at Front Office Sports said. “She’s the conduit by which a lot of people have  discovered women’s college basketball this year.”

**Now, let’s hear from a local sportswriter – Chad Leistikow of The Des Moines Register…**

How in the world did all of this happen? Absolutely, we central Iowa sports fans saw the early signs that Caitlin Clark was an exceptional talent while playing for Dowling Catholic High School. Clark won youth-level gold medals for Team USA and became one of the top women’s basketball recruits in America. But there were thousands of young women before her and there will be thousands after her who are highly accomplished and highly recruited prospects. Yet no single person before her ever did what Caitlin Clark of West Des Moines, Iowa, has done to grow the game of women’s basketball. How? In less than four years, how did she go from Dowling Catholic student to world superstar who is sponsored by the same major sports brands that Michael Jordan once was and whose presence fueled more TV viewership for any basketball game at any level on any network in the last five years? The Caitlin Clark story will be unpacked and told forever. Books will be written about her. An ESPN documentary that followed her final season at Iowa is entering the final stages of completion and will air in May (2024). And we know her story is still just beginning. On Monday night (April 15, 2024), she will be selected No. 1 overall in the WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever. Before she even takes the court in mid-May as a pro for the first time, ticket prices for her expected appearances on the court have skyrocketed to five or six times above face value.

*Read more about **Crossover At Kinnick** – the start of the 2023-24 women’s basketball season.*

Certainly, one must give credit to her parents, **Brent and Anne Clark**, for the way they were able to raise such a remarkable daughter who somehow at age 21 and 22 has handled all the pressures of A-list celebrity and still delivered, time after time, on the basketball court while inspiring a younger generation of athletes. Her brothers, **Blake and Colin Clark**, also deserve credit for the way they helped her learn how to compete against (and eventually dominate) boys at a young age. The uncommon intensity and desire to be great have always burned within Clark herself, and she is the one who put in so much time and work into the game she has always loved. Greatness doesn’t just happen with the snap of the fingers or by winning a genetics lottery. Clark also has a magnetic, funny and engaging personality that has allowed her to be highly marketable for sponsors like Hy-Vee, State Farm and Nike.

And credit also needs to go to all of her basketball coaches – and those in her other favorite sport, soccer, too – along the way. They deserve credit for helping bring the best out of her over the course of her 22 years. **Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder** sits atop that list. Bluder had the belief that Clark could take what she had built – which had peaked in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight in 2019 – and elevate the Hawkeyes to a higher level. And Bluder and her incredible staff allowed Clark to be what God made her to be while also helping direct her now-legendary intensity into the most positive directions possible.

**Kate Martin**’s career began to be warmly appreciated for her toughness and ability to rise up in big games – like she did in the closing quarter against UConn after suffering a bloody nose in the Final Four. **Gabbie Marshall**’s defense was appreciated more than ever, especially as the undersized guard rose up and recorded critical late-game blocked shots in postseason wins over Nebraska and West Virginia. Her incredible effort in defending UConn star Paige Bueckers (not to mention drawing the game-clinching moving screen) will be forever cherished by Hawkeye fans. **Molly Davis**’ knee injury and the outpouring of love from fans served as a heartwarming sidebar to Iowa’s postseason run. **Sharon Goodman**’s selfless approach as a teammate despite a mid-season benching was highlighted and applauded by Hawkeye fans. Clark drew the viewers, but this team contributed to them staying for the show.

Clark’s first nine games as a Hawkeye were available only on streaming services, and some of the games were played on weekday afternoons. Her 10th game was seen by 54,000 viewers on Big Ten Network. Flash-forward barely three years, and viewership of Clark’s 137th, 138th and 139th college games are the three most-watched women’s basketball games ever: 12.3 million for Iowa’s Elite Eight win over LSU; 14.4 million for Iowa’s Final Four win over UConn; and 18.9 million viewers on ABC for the 87-75 title-game loss against South Carolina. That was the most-watched basketball game – college or pro – on any network since the Virginia-Texas Tech men’s final in 2019. The Iowa-South Carolina number outdrew this year’s UConn-Purdue men’s championship game (14.8 million), the Grammys (17.1 million), the Alabama-Georgia SEC championship football game (17.5 million) and every final round of the Masters dating to Tiger Woods’ win in 2001.

Caitlin Clark finished her Iowa career with countless records, too many to list here. Her final career statistics include 3,951 points (No. 1 in NCAA D-I history by more than 400), 1,144 assists (No. 3), 548 3-pointers (No. 1) and 28.4 points per game (No. 1).

On March 8, 2024 – as the 2023/24 Iowa women’s basketball season came to a close, sports-writer Tim Webber of The Des Moines Register published his article: 6 interactive graphics showcasing Iowa Hawkeye Caitlin Clark’s record-breaking season.

Caitlin Clark played. More people than ever stayed for the show.

“At the end of the day, people aren’t going to remember how many points I scored … Like my buzzer-beating shots versus whoever. That’s not going to matter to people in the end.”

“I hope they remember how we made them feel, how we brought joy to their lives, how we gave their families something to scream about on the TV on the weekends.”

***During the 2023/2024 basketball season, we came in contact via our Facebook connections with two prime examples where the Caitlin Clark Effect touched two families.***

On your left is Kami. Her mom reports this: “Caitlin…a role model for everyone!! This little girl is not verbal. She loves watching Caitlin on TV, has to have her ball and jersey on! She uses a device to help her communicate, her speech teacher had to add a page just for Caitlin on her tablet so she can talk about Caitlin at school with her peers and teachers!! Friday is her dress-like-Caitlin day, it’s the only day she does not need five more minutes in bed! Jumps up and grabs her jersey and ball and feels like a million bucks!!“

*On your right is Lori. Her grandmother reports to us that Lori a*bsolutely *loves Caitlin and want*s *her hero to see her sign!*

“I hope all the young boys and girls remember the joy that we played with and how we took 10 seconds of our time to sign their autograph and that inspired them to be whatever they want to be.”

“I think I’m speaking for our entire team, and that’s what we’re the most proud of, the way we’ve carried ourselves through this entire process. I think that’s additionally allowed us to have so much success on the court, just the team and the family we’ve built over the past four years.”

On another post, we share the story of how Caitlin got actively involved with the **Coralville Food Pantry**. You can read that story here. Below, allow us to share part of sportswriter John Steppe’s excellent article following up on that commitment Caitlin has made to “giving back” to the community.

*John Boller reached out to Caitlin Clark shortly after her freshman season with an idea.* Boller was looking to partner with a local athlete to raise awareness for the **Coralville Community Food Pantry**, of which he is executive director. Clark was “obviously the first one that came to mind” for the longtime fan of Iowa women’s basketball. *“Hey, we’d love to work with you,” Boller remembers saying. “We’d be happy to pay you a little something — I know it wouldn’t be much — just to thank you for your time.”* *Clark quickly accepted part of the offer. Yes to the partnership. No to the money.* “I kind of laughed, I was like, ‘Of course, yeah, that’s how she’s wired,’” said Boller, the executive director of the food pantry. “It’s no surprise to me that she wanted to support her community and not take any resources away from the work we’re doing.” After two rounds of her pro bono advocacy for the Coralville Community Food Pantry — it raised more than $100,000 with “support from all over the country” — Clark has taken her philanthropy to another level with her own nonprofit organization, the **Caitlin Clark Foundation**.

*“How the Clarks are wired and how Caitlin’s wired is to use her platform for a lot of good,” Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen said.* The Caitlin Clark Foundation’s mission is to “uplift and improve the lives of youth and their communities” through education, nutrition and sport — things that are “always what I’ve been most passionate about,” Clark said. “Those are the same pillars that really have allowed me to have a lot of success in my life,” Clark said. “That makes it really easy to give back to kids because I know those can offer you a lot of opportunities.” The foundation’s leadership team, according to its website, consists mostly of members of the Clark family — Clark herself, her mother and her brother — in addition to Mary Coffin, a retired Wells Fargo executive. *Jensen gives plenty of credit to the “great team around her,” which takes a more active role in the foundation’s management when Clark’s basketball obligations take center stage.* “Once all that groundwork was laid, her parents know her value set,” Jensen said. “She knows who she is. … When she has the free time, she is more active in it.”

The Caitlin Clark Foundation still is in its early stages after earning tax-exempt status from the IRS in October 2023. It is new enough that the foundation has not yet needed to file a tax form 990, which makes annual revenue and expense information publicly accessible. *Despite being new, the Caitlin Clark Foundation already seem to be picking up momentum, thanks to her corporate sponsors.* *State Farm announced a $22,000 donation to the Caitlin Clark Foundation on Jan. 22 — Clark’s 22nd birthday.* Gatorade committed a $22,000 donation to Clark’s foundation last year when the two-time national player of the year signed a sponsorship deal with them. The company announced another $25,000 donation last month when it released a limited-edition Caitlin Clark product line. Proceeds from Hy-Vee’s “Caitlin’s Crunch Time” cereal, which arrived on shelves in January, benefit the foundation. The West Des Moines-based grocer also donated $35,690 to the foundation when Clark reached the 3,569 career points necessary to break Kelsey Plum’s scoring record. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to make an impact to people all across the country and especially in the state of Iowa — a place that has really given me a lot, has given my family a lot and allowed me a lot of opportunities to thrive and accomplish a lot of my goals,” Clark said in Cleveland ahead of this weekend’s Final Four games.

*As for the Coralville Community Food Pantry, Boller still sees $22 donations come in despite not having a campaign with Clark this year.* *“It’s been a game-changer for us,” Boller said.* *While Clark is expected to be on the move to Indianapolis this summer — the Indiana Fever have the first pick in the WNBA Draft — her philanthropic support appears to be here to stay.* “They’ve made indications that they still want to provide support to the Iowa City community and probably back home for her in West Des Moines,” Boller said. “We’re hopeful that we can continue being a part of her story.”

Well, countless words could be written here about Caitlin Clark, and the amazing basketball season the Hawkeye women gave us in 2023-2024. In truth, Iowa City and the University of Iowa has never seen anything like this before, nor will we see it again anytime soon. But, Caitlin, you and the Hawkeyes have not just given us great memories, but you’ve set a high bar for all those who come after you. On Sunday, April 7, 2024, you played your final game as an Iowa Hawkeye, and while that last one didn’t result in a miracle victory, you and your teammates will always be victorious in our hearts!