The Gazette from Cedar Rapids, Iowa • 26

The Cedar Rapids Gazette: Nov. 1, 1996 3c. Rigtrup rides longer road than most to lowa City Hawkeye a family man with juco, mission experience By Jim Ecker Gazette sportswriter 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-monthold he spent two years on a son, IOWA CITY Keith Rigtrup church mission, he teaches Sunis different from the other foot- day school, and he's trying to ball players at the University of make up for lost time on the Iowa.

That's why he found the football field. scene amusing when the Hawk- Rigtrup, 24, moved to Iowa eyes traveled to Penn State this City last January when his wife, year. Laura, was eight months pregThe Hawks landed at the air- nant. All of a sudden he had a port in Harrisburg, and new home, a new team and a faced a fairly long bus ride to new family. State College for the game.

They "That's as daunting a situafigured it would take three or tion as any college football playfour hours. er can have," said Iowa was saying, 'Oh, tant coach Frank Verducci, who this Rigtrup recalled, recruited Rigtrup and works laughing. "I said, 'Let me tell with him daily. you, this bus ride from the "He's got some hurdles to airport is overcome that the normal colRigtrup, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound lege football player doesn't have offensive lineman for the Hawk- to face," Verducci said. "I think eyes, told his teammates about a he's been fantastic." 22-hour bus ride he took when Rigtrup is a reserve offensive he played for Ricks Community tackle.

He doesn't play much, College in Rexburg, Idaho. They but that could change. Ross Verdrove all the way to Yuma, ba and Ted Serama, two players for a game against Arizo- of him on the depth chart, na Western. graduate this. year.

"It's dang near Mexico," Rig- He's busy enough now with trup said. school, practice, homework, the They left Thursday and got games and his family. home Sunday night. Then there "'That's tough. That's real was the bus ride to Thatcher, tough," he said.

"It's hard for for a game against East- the guys who are just going to ern Arizona. school. "After the game you're all "Sometimes things get put off. beat up, you try to sleep on the Sometimes homework gets put bus, you don't get back until off, which it shouldn't. You just Sunday." he said.

"Here you have to find time for everyjust hop on a charter flight and thing." Top-25 foes all for eager Panthers 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 a 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 more 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 State. "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 allimportant turnover margin.

UNI 6 We're just a complete team and we don't have any real 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 allAmerican 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. POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT MIKE DULANEY SUPERVISOR This Leader Listens Paid for by Dulaney for Supervisor, Robert Moorman, Treasurer, PO. Box 1:101, Cedar Rapids, IA 52406 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 versatility. Rigtrup began the 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." 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 lowa 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 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 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 good athlete, but too small for Division I. Rigtrup enrolled as a parttime 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 KICKOFF Teams: lowa (5-2) vs. Illinois (2-5) Place: Champaign, Ill. Time: 11:20 a.m. TV: KGAN Gogette Reader Day November 16, 1996- 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 lowa 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 savings. The Gazette To purchase your discounted tickets to the lowa Hawkeyes vs. Wisconsin Badgers football game on Saturday, November 16, 1996, send this completed form to: University of lowa Sports Marketing Office, 319 Carver-Hawkeye Arena, lowa 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 lowa City. This special offer is available to the first 1000 ticket orders. Mail orders only. No phone orders accepted.

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