The Hawkeye Wave – An Inspiring Wave Of Hope.

**Craig Meyer of Hawkeye Central writes…**

One of college football’s youngest traditions is already one of its best, and most endearing: In short time, Iowa’s Hawkeye Wave has become an indelible facet of the gameday experience at Kinnick Stadium since it first took place in September 2017. And it has quickly established itself as perhaps the most heartwarming tradition not only in the Big Ten, but all of college football.

At the end of the first quarter of every University of Iowa home football game, when the clock on the stadium’s scoreboard hits zero, the 70,000+ fans in attendance – plus all the players of both teams, coaches & referees on the field, at the direction of the public address announcer, turn their attention to the University of Iowa’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital. As music – chosen by each week’s Hawkeye “Kid Captain” – plays, fans, players and coaches all wave in unison to the pediatric patients and their families looking over the stadium from the 12th floor of the hospital. Patients and their families can watch the game from the hospital’s floor-to-ceiling windows, appropriately dubbed the “Press Box” because of the view inside the stadium that it offers. A number of the families hold signs in support of the Hawkeyes.

In early 2017, the University Hospitals & Clinics opened its new, nearly $300 million children’s facility just to the west of the main hospital. That move placed the new building directly across Hawkins Drive from Kinnick Stadium, and with the hospital’s 12-story design, it was tall enough to provide a magnificent view inside the Hawkeyes’ 94-year-old home venue.

After seeing a photo of a child looking out at Kinnick Stadium from one of the new hospital’s windows, a Hawkeye fan – Krista Young – thought of a way that a connection could be forged between the thousands gathered inside the stadium and the children bravely battling illnesses across the street. So that May, Krista posted on Hawkeye Heaven – a Facebook group page for Iowa fans – a suggestion (see below):

The post went viral, with many commending her for the idea and urging others to follow through on it once the season began. The University Athletic Department agreed, and at the Hawkeyes’ season-opener against Wyoming – on September 2, 2017 – the moment for the wave arrived when the first quarter ended with the teams locked in a scoreless tie. “People get lost in the game,” Young said in a 2022 interview with the Big Ten Network. “I really didn’t have any expectations. I didn’t really think it would be that big of a thing. I just wanted to see somebody doing it.” When the quarter ended and the action on the field drew to a halt, thousands of black-and-yellow-clad fans turned toward the hospital and waved…

“You could see peoples’ expressions,” Gwen Senio, a child life specialist at the hospital from 1980-2018, told the Big Ten Network. “You could see them smiling. They didn’t just wave a little; they waved and waved. The people in the top row of the bleachers, you almost felt like you could reach out and they could hug you.”

The television broadcast crew for the game that day took notice of the mass gesture and noted that it felt like “that’s a tradition starting today that will carry forward.” Wow – were they right!

The kindness and humanity of the relatively simple act earned widespread praise nationally. That December (2017), ESPN Sports recognized The Hawkeye Wave with the Disney Spirit Award. Today, many call The Wave the finest tradition in all of college sports!

***For much of its existence, the wave was accompanied by “Wave on Wave,” a song by country music artist Pat Green, playing over the stadium’s PA system.***

Starting in 2022, however, the University of Iowa Athletic Department, in coordination with the hospital’s Kid Captain program, asked the designated Kid Captain for each home game to help select a new song to play during the wave.

Iowa’s Kid Captain program began in 2009 to honor Stead Family Children’s Hospital patients. For each home game, a selected Kid Captain gets a commemorative jersey, special recognition from the hospital and the Iowa football team and “other behind-the-scenes activities.”

On September 16, 2024, the University of Iowa announced that For The Kids Way, a road that runs east-west through University of Iowa Health Care’s university campus (see map below), will be renamed Hawkeye Wave Way. The new name reflects the relationship between the greatest tradition in college athletics and UI Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital, which sits north of Hawkeye Wave Way between John Pappajohn Pavilion and Pomerantz Family Pavilion.

Originally named South Hospital Drive, the east-west street began at Hawkins Drive and led to the north entrance of Hospital Parking Ramp 4 before ending at the Field House. After renovations to the Field House in 2015, the road was extended to merge with South Grand Avenue, alleviating congestion on Melrose Avenue, improving traffic flow, and accommodating patients and visitors to UI Health Care Medical Center. The street was renamed For The Kids Way in 2019 to recognize the dedication and philanthropic impact Dance Marathon programs across the state have made on the patients and families at Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

Thank you, Krista Young, for birthing the idea, and thank you, Hawkeye fans for making The Hawkeye Wave into one of the most meaningful in the long, illustrious history of University of Iowa athletics!