I’ve been thinking about this for a while and came up with my 12 favorite Hawkeyes under Hayden Fry. The first four were pretty easy for me at least. The last eight were a little harder to list in order.
No. 1 Chuck Long This wasn’t a tough choice as Chuck still holds nine Iowa records starting with career passing attempts (1,203), career completions (782), and consecutive passes completed (22) against Indiana in 1984. Chuck also completed 67.1 percent of his passes in 1984 and 65 percent for his career, both Iowa records.
Chuck has 10,461 total yards passing, 27 TD passes in a season and 74 for his career. He also holds the Iowa record for total offense with 10,254 yards. Long is the only football player to play in five bowl games. Before the 1982 season, Hayden Fry said Long was “destined for greatness.”
1982
Chuck started the first game of the 1982 season against Nebraska and Iowa lost 42-7. He was benched in the loss to Iowa State in the second game but started against Arizona and Iowa won 17-14. Chuck threw two touchdown passes and the beginning of a legendary career.
Iowa finished 8-4 that year and won their first bowl game since 1959. Long threw for 1,374 yards and eight touchdowns. That was the most yards thrown ever for a sophomore quarterback at Iowa and the third most all-time for the Hawkeyes trailing only Gary Snook and Larry Lawrence.
Chuck’s 64.2 percent completion percentage was an Iowa record.
1983
1983 saw the Hawkeyes go 9-2. Long set six Iowa records that year including passing yards in a season and in career, touchdown passes in a season (13) and career (24), one season total offense and career. That season, Chuck also threw for a school record 345 yards in a 42-35 win over Northwestern. He was named first team All Big Ten.
1984
In 1984 Iowa had some major injuries and finished 8-4-1. Both Chuck Long and Ronnie Harmon were hurt in the 10-10 tie with Wisconsin. That season, Chuck set a school record with 22 straight completions against Indiana. He also led Iowa to a 55-17 bowl win over Texas.
Long set records for passing yards in a bowl game (461), touchdown passes (6) and set a bowl record completing 29-39 passes. Chuck was once again first team All Big Ten.
1985
Long had a chance to turn pro but stayed for the 1985 season and it became one of the best years in Iowa football. After starting the season 3-0, the Iowa Hawkeyes were ranked No. 1 in the nation. It was the 7th time in history the Hawks were ranked No. 1 and the first time in 24 years since 1961. The biggest game in over 20 years was when 2nd ranked Michigan came to town to face the No. 1 ranked Hawkeyes. Iowa trailed 10-9 with 5:27 left.
Chuck drove the Hawks down to the Michigan 12 with just .02 seconds left on the clock.
Rob Houghtlin nailed the 39-yard field goal and the fans stormed the field in the 12-10 win.
Long finished 26-39 for 297 yards in the win. Iowa finished 10-2 that year winning the Big Ten title outright for the first time since 1958. Long won almost every major award that year including the Big Ten MVP, the Maxwell award, the Davey O’Brien award and was consensus All American.
Chuck played six years in the NFL and has coached off and on since then. Long is considered the best quarterback to play at Iowa.
No. 2 Ronnie HarmonRonnie is one of those polarizing figures in Hawkeye sports. Did he throw the Rose Bowl game against UCLA or did the just have a bad day? One of the things I always bring up is UCLA had a freshman running back named Eric Ball. Ball ran for a Rose Bowl record 227 yards and scored four touchdowns as the Bruins shredded the Hawkeye defense with 299 yards on the ground.
Ronnie led Iowa with 55 yards rushing and caught 11 passes for 102 yards. I’m leaning towards Ronnie having a bad day.
Harmon did have a great career before that happened. Ronnie came in as a top rated running back from New York. He agreed to play wide receiver his first two years if he could play running back after that. In 1982, Harmon played in 11 games, ran for 16 yards on seven carries, caught 16 passes for 255 yards.
In the Peach Bowl win against Tennessee, Ronnie caught three passes, two for touchdowns.
In 1983, Ronnie ran for 185 yards and scored two touchdowns. He also caught 29 passes and scored five times. Harmon had his breakout game in the 42-34 win at Penn State. Iowa was leading 35-28 with 8:30 left in the game.
Chuck Long threw down the sideline to Harmon, who out leaped and grabbed the ball away from the Penn State defender and sprinted 40 yards to complete a 77-yard touchdown reception. Harmon switched to tailback in 1984 and had a great debut in the season opener against Iowa State. The Hawks won 59-21 and Ronnie caught a 68-yard TD pass from Long and also scored on an 86 yard run.
Ronnie racked up 132 yards in a losing effort to Ohio State and then added 191 yards and scored three touchdowns as Iowa beat Illinois 21-16. The Hawks knocked off Northwestern 31-3 the following week with Harmon running for 121 yards and scoring three times.
After the game Hayden Fry called Ronnie, “The most exciting running back I’ve been associated with.”
Both Ronnie Harmon and Chuck Long were hurt against Wisconsin and the game ended in a 10-10 tie. Ronnie was lost for the season. Harmon was named first team All Big Ten after the season after rushing for 907 yards and scoring 11 touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes and scored once.
In 1985 Ronnie played in all 12 games, ran for 1,166 yards (5.3 per carry) and he scored nine touchdowns. He also caught 49 passes and scored once. At the time, he was Iowa’s all-time leading pass receiver with 146 receptions.
Harmon played pro football for 12 seasons and caught 582 passes which was a record at the time for running backs. He wasn’t perfect but he was fun to watch.
Next week I’ll talk about Tim Dwight, Reggie Roby and Tavian Banks.
Ronnie Harmon