The Gazette from Cedar Rapids, Iowa • 26

The Cedar Rapids Gazette: Nov. 1, 1996 3C- onOes DdDirQjgor mexti ksm oiDsfr ft Dwja fifty I -Ay a minor blessing, because he had more time for Laura. They got married in the summer of 1994. That began a good year for Rigtrup. Ricks went 11-0 in '94 and was voted the No.

2 junior college team in the country. He played again in 1995 and caught the eye of several Division I schools, including Iowa. The Hawkeyes wanted an older player to fill a gap in the offensive line. Casey Wiegmann, Matt Purdy and Aaron Kooiker were graduating. Two other offensive linemen.

Matt Redman and Terry Mueller, were hurt and unable to play. Verducci liked what he saw in Rigtrup size, intelligence and Rigtrup began the 1996' season as an offensive guard but switched to tackle when the Hawkeyes gave freshman Billy Brann a redshirt year. "He's coming along," Verducci said. "It's just that he's had more challenges than the average player we bring into the program. He's doing a good job handling it.

He'll make a contribution to us." r4 Fit A7' Hawkeye a family man with juco, mission "experience By Jim Ecker Gazette sportswriter IOWA CITY Keith Rigtrup is different from the other football players at the University of Iowa. That's why he found the scene amusing when the Hawk-eyes traveled to Penn State this year. The Hawks landed at the airport in Harrisburg, and faced a fairly long bus ride to State College for the game. They figured it would take three or four hours. "Everyone was saying, 'Oh, this stinks, Rigtrup recalled, laughing.

"I said, 'Let me tell you, this bus ride from the airport is Rigtrup, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound offensive lineman for the Hawk-eyes, told his teammates about a 22-hour bus ride he took when he played for Ricks Community College in Rexburg, Idaho. They drove all the way to Yuma, for a game against Arizona Western. "It's dang near Mexico," Rigtrup said. They left Thursday and got home Sunday night. Then there was the bus ride to Thatcher, for a game against Eastern Arizona.

"After the game you're all beat up, you try to sleep on the bus, you don't get back until Sunday," he said. "Here you just hop on a charter flight and t. Photo by Jeanine Brown, Gazette-intern After a long and tiring day for. the Rigtrup family, it's time for a pizza dinner. Keith spends his day at school and football practice with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Laura spends her day at work and caring for the baby, Brooks. Keith comes to the Hawkeyes after a junior college stint and a two-year church mission. His wife, Laura, works as an assistant manager at the J.C. Penney 's in Old Capitol Mall. Their son, Brooks, was born Feb, 2.

Both parents are active in the Mormon church. Their religious beliefs stress the importance of family. "That means everything to me," Rigtrup said. "I wouldn't trade that for playing in the -NFL." Rigtrup got a late start in Top-25 foes all for eager Panthers S3 football. He was always bigger than the other kids and back home in Farmington, Utah, they divided players by size, not age, for the little league teams.

"I would have had to play with kids a year older than me," Rigtrup explained. "My mother is overprotective. She wouldn't let me." He finally got started in high school and was a 220-pound lineman at graduation. He was a i 1 1T5 7 ax Ll LJ go to the hotel." Rigtrup was not being critical of his teammates. He understands their point of view, but he sees things differently.

He's the only married player on the team, he has an 8-month-bld son, he spent two years on a church mission, he teaches Sunday school, and he's trying to make up for lost time on the football field. Rigtrup, 24, moved to Iowa City last January when his wife, Laura, was eight months pregnant. All of a sudden he had a new home, a new team and a new family. "That's as daunting a situation as any college football player can said Iowa assistant coach Frank Verducci, who recruited Rigtrup and works with him daily. "He's got some hurdles to overcome that the normal college football player doesn't have to face," Verducci said.

"I think he's been fantastic." Rigtrup is a reserve offensive tackle. He doesn't play much, but that could change. Ross Verba and Ted Serama, two players ahead of him on the depth chart, graduate this year. He's busy enough now with school, practice, homework, the games and his family. "That's tough.

That's real tough," he said. "It's hard for the guys who are just going to school. "Sometimes things get put off. Sometimes homework gets put off, which it shouldn't. You just have to find time for everything." We're just a complete team and we don't have any real weakness.

UNI Coach Terry Allen has recovered 12 fumbles and intercepted 16 passes while giving up by six fumbles and six interceptions. And even though UNI ranks near the bottom of the league in total defense, it is third in scoring defense, allowing just 17.5 points per game. "Defensively, the players understand that you can give up first downs, but you can't give up touchdowns," Allen said. Most valuable what? Northern Iowa cornerback Mickey Dalton was named the most valuable defensive player of last year's Copper Bowl. Playing for Air Force against Texas Tech, Dalton had five solo tackles, broke up three passes and intercepted one.

But Air Force lost the game, 55-41. "That's a lot of offense," Dalton said. "There really wasn't much defense in the game." Dalton was honored, but surprised by the award. "I didn't really do anything that was so dynamic to change the outcome of the game," he said. Tressel connection Except for a handful of games in the UNI-Dome, Youngstown's Tressel has never coached in Iowa.

He spent time at Ohio State, Syracuse and Miami (Ohio), but not in this state. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have connections to Eastern Iowa. Mike Tressel, an academic ail-American football player and wrestler at Cornell the past few years, is Jim's nephew. Mike is a graduate assistant at the University of South Dakota. He's one in a long line of coaches.

Jim's father, Lee, directed Baldwin-Wallace College to a 155-52-6 record and his brother Dick, Mike's dad, is a head coach at Hamline University. "We've had a lot of them," Jim said of coaches in the Tressel family. ADVERTISEMENT Thank you for being a loyal Gazette reader! To show our appreciation, we are offering a special one-time discount on tickets to the University of Iowa vs. Wisconsin football game on Saturday, November 16, 1996. Just fill out the coupon below and you can purchase tickets for $19.00 each.

That's $7.00 off the regular price of $26.00 a 27 savings. good athlete, but too small for Division I. Rigtrup enrolled as a part-time student in 1990 at Ricks Community College, which is run by the Mormon church. He spent two years on a church mission in Sacramento, then returned to Ricks in 1993 and promptly got He injured his shoulder in preseason workouts and did not play that year. That turned into T6 your subscribe to $19.00 IS, 1 2 1 I (Pay I 4r I i (.

Teams: Iowa (5-2) vs. Illinois (2-5) Place: Champaign, III. Time: 11:20 a.m. TV: KGAN The Gazette? Ye3Mo No. 21 Youngstown up first as UNI winds down its campaign By J.R.

Ogden Gazette assistant sports editor The attitude is at an all-time high and "there's a little more hop in the step" during practice. Things couldn't be going much better for Northern Iowa's football team this fall. "It's like the light at the end of the tunnel is getting a little bit bigger," Coach Terry Allen said earlier this week as the Panthers began preparations for Saturday's noon non-conference showdown at No. 21 Youngstown State (6-2). Northern Iowa stands 3-0 in the Gateway Conference, 7-1 overall and ranks third among the 118 NCAA I-AA football programs in the country.

And even though there are three big games left all three upcoming foes rank in the Top 25 Allen is starting to feel UNI FOOTBALL pretty good about these Panthers. "Maybe it's a little premature on my part; maybe I'm looking through those rosy glasses," he said. "We're just a complete team at this particular time and we don't have any real weakness." And, according to Youngstown State Coach Jim Tressel, this is a more talented team than in 1992, when UNI was ranked No. 1 in the nation for five weeks and lost in the semifinals to the Penguins. "This group of theirs has a lot niore talent," said Tressel, who has guided Youngstown to 93 wins and three I-AA titles in 11 years.

"They've got great players." Allen is particularly pleased with the fact UNI ranks third in the league in rushing offense at 169.3 yards per game just one yard behind Southwest Missouri Slate. I "You could knock me over with a feather," he said. UNI is first in the league in passing offense (239.8), total offense (409) and scoring offense (37.1) and also is tops and third nationally in the all-important turnover margin. UNI POLITICAL 1 vvv (fliers 1 To purchase your discounted tickets to the Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Wisconsin Badgers football game on Saturday, November 16, 1996, send this completed form to: University of Iowa Sports Marketing Office, 319 Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, IA 52242.

To receive your tickets by mail, please place your order by Friday, November 8. Tickets ordered after that date can be picked up the day of the game in Iowa City. This special offer is available to the first 1000 ticket orders. Mail orders only. No phone orders accepted.

requested: 1 A-'fr Name: Address: CityStateZip: Phone: Number of tickets this amount today!) HfljgilJjggggjjg i This Leader Listens I prefer to pay by: check (Please include your check with this Credit Card Number: Signature: order form credit card (Please circle one: CC? Expiration Date: -r 'amkxof Duianey tor Supervisor. Robert Moorman. Treasurer, P.O. Box 1 101 Cedar Rapids. IA 52406 -i -v? a 9 0.