I moved to North Liberty in December of 1980 and was living in Holiday Trailer Court.
The town was a little over 3,000 people. From 1986 until now, North Liberty (19,501 people) has grown 255 percent.
We had Holiday Foods grocery located where the True Value hardware store is now and Koser’s store on the corner of Dubuque and Cherry streets.
There were no stoplights and Penn Elementary was the only school in town.
1988 Fun Facts
The price of a new car in 1988 was $10,000 and the average income was about $24,000.
The average cost of a new house was $94,000.
You could buy pork chops for 40 cents a pound.
A Volkswagen Rabbit ran around $7,000.
The drug Prozac was introduced.
“The Cosby Show” was the top TV program.
The No. 1 movie was “Rain man.”
Michael Douglas won an Academy Award winner for “Wall Street.”
Cher won an Oscar for “Moonstruck.”
“Faith” by George Michael was the top song.
1988 Sports
The Olympics were held in Seoul, Korea. The Soviet Union won the Olympics, winning 55 gold and 132 total medals that year. The United States finished third with 36 gold and 94 total medals. Carl Lewis won two gold medals in the long jump and 100-meters.
The Washington Redskins won the Super Bowl, the LA Lakers were NBA champs and the LA Dodgers were World Series champs.
Notre Dame won the college football championship and Kansas won the NCAA basketball champions. Louisiana Tech won the women’s basketball title. Arizona State was the NCAA Wrestling champ with Iowa finishing fourth.
Hawkeye Football 1988
The Hawkeyes started the season 1-2, losing to Hawaii and Colorado, beating Kansas State.
Iowa State was up next and Iowa was a 24-point favorite.
“We couldn’t score 24 points in pregame warmups,” said Hayden Fry about the point spread.
He was right, the Hawks scored one touchdown.
Chuck Hartlieb threw a 26-yard scoring strike to Tony Stewart in the third quarter and Iowa won, 10-3.
It was 3-3 at the half.
Hartlieb finished 11-22 for 129 yards, breaking a string of 11 straight 200-yard games.
Iowa State completed a “Hail Mary” pass to the Iowa 11 with under one minute left.
Two plays later, Iowa defensive back Tork Hook intercepted a pass with 16 seconds left to ice the second win of the season.
Brad Quast was named AP Defensive Player of the Week with 20 tackles, 12 solos.
Only Larry Station and Dave Haight had at least 20 tackles in the Hayden Fry regime.
Tony Stewart ran for 194 yards, the sixth most in Iowa history.
Three days after the game, the Board of Athletics voted to put grass in Kinnick Stadium. Iowa has had Astroturf since 1972.
Iowa 10, Michigan State 10
The Spartans were defending Big Ten champs and Norm Parker was defensive coordinator and Phil Parker was an All-Big Ten defensive back.
State was 0-3, losing to Rutgers, Florida State and Notre Dame.
Heavy rain soaked the Spartans’ field and Tony Stewart threw a late 10-yard pass to Jon Fillon to tie the game,10-10.
The Spartans had a chance to win the game but missed a 45-yard field goal with less than a minute left.
Jeff Skillet had a chance to win it for Iowa but his 51-yard field goal attempt missed with one second on the clock.
It was the first tie for Iowa since a 10-10 tie with Wisconsin in 1984.
The Hawkeyes were pretty banged up after the game with at least five starters out with injuries and Chuck Hartlieb wearing a knee brace.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our football team,” said Coach Fry. “My guys played their hearts out. We grew up today. I think we are capable of playing anyone tough now.”
Iowa 31, Wisconsin 6
The Badgers came into the game 0-5.
Iowa took a 9-7-halftime lead on Jeff Skillet’s three field goals.
The Hawk offense came alive in the second half with 292 total yards and three touchdowns.
Marv Cook, injured for the last three games, came back to catch seven passes for 99 yards.
On Friday night, prior to the game, Ron Stoops, father of Mark, Mike and Bobby, died of a heart attack.
Mark, a starting defensive back for Iowa, missed the Wisconsin game.
Iowa 17, Michigan 17
The Wolverines, ranked 15th in the nation, came into Kinnick as 6-1/2 point favorites.
Iowa scored first on a five-yard Hartlieb pass to Marv Cook.
Michigan kicked a field goal, Jeff Skillet answered with one and Iowa led, 10-3.
David Hudson scored on a six-yard smash and Iowa led, 17-3.
The Wolverines scored right before half and Iowa led, 17-10, at halftime.
Michigan mounted a 99-yard drive in the third quarter, the final score 17-17.
Iowa had a chance to win the game but Tony Stewart fumbled at the goal line on fourth down.
Michigan also had a chance to win in the final minutes, but Iowa recovered a fumble on its one-yard line then moved to midfield as the game ended.
Seven Iowa players were helped from the field, including defensive backs Mark Stoops and Gary Clark, both lost for the season.
“We must be snake bit or it’s not our year,” said Hayden. “This is the longest season I’ve ever put in as coach. I feel as though we’ve already played 20 games. In 37 years of coaching, I’ve never had a team that is so crippled.”
Iowa 37, Purdue 7
Iowa beat Purdue for the sixth straight time.
The Hawks kept conference championship hopes and Rose Bowl hopes alive with a 2-0-2 record in the Big Ten.
Mike Sanders scored on a 72-yard run and Iowa had three touchdowns in the second half as the Hawks remained undefeated in the Big Ten.
Tony Stewart ran for 140 yards on 15 carries and Chuck Hartlieb threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Deven Harberts bringing Iowa’s record to 4-2-2.
Next week, I’ll finish the season with an exciting bowl victory.